Marvel: The Infinite Crown

{Chapter: 144 - Butterfly Shadows in Star City

Gossip About The Incident}

The golden morning sunlight spilled gently across the sheets, wrapping the room in a warm, ethereal glow. A soft breeze danced through the open window, tugging playfully at the curtains. In the quiet serenity of dawn, Aiden stirred, his gaze falling upon the woman nestled beside him.

Carol lay there, her hair tousled, lips slightly parted in sleep, the faintest smile lingering as though she were dreaming something sweet. He couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"I told you, didn't I?" he whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek. "If you really wanted to do this… you wouldn't be leaving by nightfall."

Her eyes fluttered open, and she gave him a playful pout. "Hmph. You went overboard," she murmured, voice laced with affection. "Now I don't want to leave at all."

Aiden laughed, the sound low and tender. "Well, who told you to fall for a man who's too good to resist?"

Carol rolled onto her back with a groan, arms reaching out toward him like a lazy kitten. "I can't move… I'm broken. You did this. So carry me, Mr. Perfect."

He grinned, already slipping his arms beneath her. "As you wish, my princess."

Lifting her effortlessly into his arms, Aiden cradled her against his chest, their bare skin touching in the golden light as he carried her into the bathroom. The steam began to rise as he turned on the hot water, filling the space with warmth.

Carol leaned against him, her head resting against his shoulder. "You spoil me…"

"Always," he murmured, gently kissing her temple.

She sighed with contentment as he took his time, lovingly washing her, his hands moving with a reverence that spoke more of care than desire now. Every touch was slow, thoughtful—more about treasuring her than teasing her.

In that quiet, steamy moment, with only the sound of water and their soft laughter filling the air, the world outside ceased to exist.

Just the two of them. Warmth, water, and love.

"Mm~"

Carol softly moans, feeling Aiden's hand rubbing her big breasts.

"Hehe, you're gonna flip my switch" Aiden jokingly.

"Um.." Carol nodded a little disappointed.

Aiden noticing this and said "There's still time, let's go for a few round"

He then moved his hand down to her nether region and teased her flower bud.

"Ah~"

After a few minutes of foreplay, She couldn't hold back and climaxed.

Aiden let her finish before settling her on his lap facing him. He lifted her ass up and pushed her down on his hard dick.

Pak! Pak! Pak!

"Ahh!~Dear, P-please hah* Fill me up before I leave!~"

"As you wish" Aiden smirked before moving her ass faster, After a few minutes her body twitched and she'd squirted.

"Mm"

They both kissed each other while Aiden pulled up her tight pussy on his still hard cock filling her completely.

"AAaah~"

Carol softly moaned but Aiden moved his tongue in her mouth.

"Wah~ K-Aiden this…Ah!~"

Aiden pulled his dick out and shoved it inside her wet pussy.

Pak! Pak! Pak!

"Ah~So deep!~"

Carol wrapped her arms around Aiden's neck and moaned, she could feel his huge and hard dick rubbing all her sweet spots and hitting her womb.

"C-Cumming!~"

Not long after, She squirted all over him. Aiden smiled then pinned her against the glass wall before moving his hips harder.

Pak! Pak! Pak!

"Ah!~Oh!!~F-fuck!~"

Feeling strong resistance from both front and back her body couldn't help but feel delighted. Aiden kissed her while making her pussy cum repeatedly.

After she came for the fifth time, Aiden laid her on the bathtub and continued fucking her brains out.

Pak! Pak! Pak!

"Ahnhh!~Dear, fuck me harder!~"

Slap!

"Ah!~"

Aiden slapped her ass which made her have a light orgasm and continued doing it. After a while Aiden finally shot his thick semen into her womb while she squirted intensely.

"Hah txt hat Hah felt…amazing.."

Carol Beaty heavily while saying. She slowly crawled over and cleaned his dick before getting rammed by it again.

For another 2 hours, Aiden made her cum nonstop and filled her womb with his hot semen.

---

After "washing up," it was nearly eight in the morning. The golden light of dawn poured over the city skyline, softening the hard concrete lines of Coast City's towering buildings. Aiden glanced at the time and sighed. No time for breakfast—not that he was hungry anyway. After all, he had already "eaten" in his own indulgent way.

He escorted her—Carol—back to Coast City, and then returns reluctantly.

He wasn't done yet. Not by a long shot.

There were still things left unresolved.

Somers hadn't been dealt with, not entirely. The true rot behind the surface of Star City's crime wave still festered in the shadows. Aiden knew he needed to push just a little further. Just 5% more on that elusive friendship bar, and he'd complete his main quest.

And right now, he had a name in mind: Laurel Lance.

---

Aiden made his way to the law firm where Laurel worked. The firm was modest but bustling with the kind of purposeful energy that came from fighting uphill battles. Inside, voices murmured legalese, printers whirred, and interns scurried across polished tile floors.

He spotted her instantly.

Laurel was seated behind a desk stacked with case files. She wore a navy blazer that sharpened her presence, her brow furrowed in frustration as she flipped through documents. Her expression softened when she looked up and saw Aiden approaching.

"You," she said, standing with a mix of surprise and quiet relief. "I didn't expect to see you here."

Aiden offered a small smile. "Got a few minutes? I thought we could talk somewhere quieter."

Laurel hesitated briefly, then nodded. "Yeah… sure. I could use a break."

She grabbed her bag, and the two of them left the office together.

---

They settled into a booth at a nearby café. The morning rush had passed, and the place was calm—sunlight filtering through half-lowered blinds, the clinking of coffee cups and low jazz in the background. Aiden leaned back as Laurel ordered tea and he settled for black coffee.

"I don't even know what to say to you," Laurel said after a beat. "You saved me. You saved Oliver. You helped bring down a powerful criminal. That… that's not nothing."

She looked down, her voice faltering.

"But Somers will get away, didn't he?" she added bitterly.

"There's no solid evidence linking him to any of the murders," Aiden replied calmly. "Without a smoking gun, he'll walk."

Laurel gave a weary nod, her jaw tightening. "It's always the same. The ones at the top always get away."

She paused, then looked at him with careful eyes. "How do you know Oliver anyway? You two don't exactly seem like drinking buddies."

Aiden chuckled. "Let's just say… we have overlapping interests."

He sipped his coffee, then glanced at her curiously. "But I've always wondered… is Oliver your ex?"

Laurel's shoulders stiffened. For a moment, she looked like she was trying to decide how honest to be.

"Yes," she said at last, voice even. "He was. A long time ago."

"You don't seem like someone who's forgiven him, He also got your sister killed yet you don't seem to hate him?" Aiden said carefully.

"Because I haven't," Laurel said, her voice sharpened by unspoken memories. "He was with my sister the night the boat went down. He lied to me. He lied to everyone. I don't hate him, but I don't trust him either."

Aiden nodded slowly. That matched the Laurel he remembered—idealistic, strong-willed, and fiercely protective of her values.

"Then why see him at all?" he asked, not unkindly.

Laurel looked down at her tea, swirling it absentmindedly.

"Because… she's gone. And he's the last connection I have to her. As messed up as it sounds, talking to him feels like holding onto her memory."

A silence settled between them, not uncomfortable, but weighted with the unspoken truths of grief.

"Although he is my ex-boyfriend, we have not seen each other in a long time and there… Nothing between us. Perhaps, the purpose of his beginning was to get in touch with my younger sister. If I knew this would've happened, even If our relationship was short lived, even if we were nominal friends, I would not agree!"

"Hoh?"

This was unexpected news.

Listening to her tone, it seems her relationship with Oliver is not very good?

Aiden took a sip from his coffee, then smiled wryly. "What about Tommy?" Aiden nodded and asked a little bit about the scandals.

Laurel blinked. "Tommy?"

"Yeah, Tommy Merlyn. You're not together?"

Her brow furrowed. "Why would you think that?"

Aiden shrugged, trying to play it off. "You two seemed close."

Aiden felt a little embarrassed and this reaction wasn't right. 'Is it a mistake in the story? Or…is this world different from my memory?'

"We were friends. Just friends," Laurel replied. "Back when I met Oliver, Tommy was part of the group. He lost a friend that day. I lost my sister. We helped each other cope, but it was never romantic."

Aiden leaned back in his seat, a thoughtful frown creasing his forehead.

'Strange… I remember something different. But maybe this world isn't exactly how I remember it.'

'Well, this seems wrong,' Aiden muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing as he leaned against the brick wall of the courthouse steps, watching Laurel Lance through the café window across the street. She was radiant—sharp jawline, firm posture, dressed in one of those lawyer suits that screamed I know I'm good, and I fight like hell. But there was something off… something different about the way she moved, the way the world moved around her.

It wasn't just déjà vu. It wasn't even just that he had seen her story play out before—in another world, through another screen.

No, something fundamental had shifted.

'Just like Paper and Tony…' he muttered, recalling how those two deviated from their usual arcs. Riptide, too—having both his comic and film powers mashed together in that Frankenstein of a timeline.

Was this the infamous Butterfly Effect in action? Had his very presence here caused ripples so deep they had rewritten destinies? Or was this world always meant to be a strange fusion—a chaotic tapestry stitched together from fragments of comics, movies, TV adaptations, fan interpretations, and alternate realities?

He had already seen it—too many times to brush it off as coincidence. Riptide, for instance, wielded the powers of both his cinematic and comic counterparts, blending them into a terrifying hybrid. Wolverine was younger than he should be. Magneto's ideology was more chaotic, his path darker. Even minor characters, once footnotes in grander narratives, were now forces to be reckoned with.

Was some cosmic force orchestrating this amalgamation? A Multiversal Convergence? Secret manipulations from entities like the Living Tribunal, the One-Above-All, or—a crucible where all versions of reality collided to forge something new?

Or was he just standing in one of those cosmic patchworks where timelines, alternate Earths, and fictional laws tangled up like spaghetti in a kid's science fair? Given everything he'd seen in Marvel before this—shattered multiverses, time loops, canon-fusion events—none of this was impossible.

Still, Laurel wasn't supposed to be like this. Still he will take full advantage of what is given to him.

Laurel glanced up from her tablet, brushing her hair behind her ear as her sharp gaze met his.

"You're acting like you know us," she said, brows arching slightly. "Like you've watched this play out before."

Aiden chuckled, sliding smoothly into the chair across from her. "Let's just say I've got great instincts."

"You're a weird guy, Aiden," she said, her voice carrying a note of amusement. "But I guess I owe you lunch at least, after the way you helped out the other night."

"Deal." Aiden raised his paper coffee cup in a mock-toast and smirked. "Lunch and maybe a little conversation. I've always liked lawyers—especially ones who look this good in a power suit."

Laurel laughed, shaking her head, but not looking away. "Is that your idea of a compliment? Because I've heard better from people trying to avoid jail time."

"That's because most of those guys were guilty," Aiden grinned, leaning forward. "Me? I'm more of a misunderstood vigilante."

"You're definitely something."

There was a flicker of chemistry—unspoken but electric. And he noticed the corner of her lips tilt upward slightly.

"I have something you might need," Aiden said, changing the tone just enough to draw curiosity.

She tilted her head. "I'm listening."

He pulled out his phone and tapped play on the video recording he'd snagged earlier. As the damning words filled the space between them, Laurel's posture straightened, eyes lighting up with purpose.

"This—this is incredible! With this recording, Somers is done. He'll rot in prison."

"You want it?" Aiden asked, his smile returning, this time more mischievous.

Laurel raised an eyebrow. "You're not blackmailing me, are you?"

"Of course not," he said with mock offense. "Let's call it... a trade. A harmless one."

"I'm listening."

"You just have to answer one question. Honestly."

She narrowed her eyes. "Only one?"

"Just one. Are you single?"

Laurel blinked. "W-Why would you ask that?"

"Don't dodge. Just a yes or no."

A brief pause.

Then, with a glance at her untouched coffee, she nodded.

"Good," he said, visibly pleased. "Hand me your phone—I'll pass the file over."

Laurel hesitated for just a beat before giving it to him. She watched as he transferred the file, then added his contact info.

"You didn't ask permission to save your number," she noted.

"I'm full of surprises," he replied with a wink.

"Well, now that I've got what I came for… I suppose I should thank you."

"You could. Or…" he leaned back, casual but close. "You could agree to dinner instead of lunch next time. Candlelight. Fewer people. Maybe a rooftop view."

She smiled—genuine now, softer. "Is this your version of a superhero pickup line?"

Aiden laughed. "I mean, it works better when I'm wearing the ring."

Laurel tilted her head, amused. "You're not from Star City, are you?"

"Nope. Just visiting. Though I hear the nightlife's decent and the lawyers are breathtaking."

"Where are you headed next? Back to Coast City?"

He gave her a knowing look. "So you have heard of me."

"Green Lantern isn't exactly an unknown name. And you've been busy lighting up the rumor mill with Green Arrow lately."

"Let's just say the vigilante scene has been lacking finesse. I'm helping out."

Laurel looked intrigued, leaning in slightly. "Do you know who he is?"

"I do," Aiden said smoothly, "but I can't tell you."

She frowned but didn't push it. "Can you at least tell me your real name?"

"Aiden," he said, his tone softening as he met her gaze. "Just Aiden—for now."

Laurel whispered it to herself, testing the syllables like they meant something. "I'll remember it."

He stood, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve. "Well, I won't keep Star City's brightest legal mind from doing what she does best."

He turned to leave, then paused and looked back over his shoulder.

"By the way… your father shot me twice yesterday."

Laurel blinked. "What?"

Laurel yelled in surprise. She didn't expect her father to shoot Aiden, and she didn't expect Aiden to suddenly talk about revenge. After all, he didn't look like he wanted revenge at all.

"I know, right?" He grinned. "And here I was thinking older men liked me."

"What happened?" she asked, stunned.

"Long story. But I decided to take revenge on him." He leaned forward with a playful glint in his eye. "By using you."

"What?!"

"If," Aiden said smoothly, "you promise to stay single and not go back to Oliver Queen or Tommy, I might—might—tell you something about your sister."

The name caught her breath. "What do you know about Sara?"

"You'll find out. If you behave. I'll see how you perform next time we meet and then consider whether to tell you."

Laurel stared at him, flustered but visibly intrigued.

Aiden dropped a few bills on the table and headed for the door.

"Why are you doing this?" she called after him.

He glanced over his shoulder and smiled. "Just consider it... my revenge."

And with that, he walked out into the golden morning sun, leaving Laurel alone with her coffee, her racing heart, and about fifty questions she didn't even know how to ask.

And for the first time in a long while, Laurel Lance was smiling for no reason at all.

*****

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