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It was a lazy day, all things considered. Natla had had one meeting in the morning and one less important one later in the afternoon, but with not many pressing tasks to do to keep her company running, she felt confident her business wouldn’t implode if she simply walked out and had a nice cup of coffee in her favourite café a few blocks away. The weather agreed with her as well, cloudy but with no rain for once, and only weak, occasional gusts of wind.
Her heels clicking on the pavement, Natla was heading single-mindedly to her destination that promised a quiet, relaxing atmosphere, with no danger that one of her employees – one of the few of her very, very specific employees – would burst in and annoy her. Now, Kid was actually useful sometimes, but she had also let the teenager run wild in the building for too long to only now realize she might have tried to instil in him the understanding of people who do not wish to be disturbed. Or to explain to him not to touch things he wasn’t supposed to. Especially in the R&D department. And her personal labs. And the IT department. And the… oh, at least Kold was there to keep an eye on him.
She couldn’t wait for the school year to start again so Kid would spend most of his day away from her offices.
With those fanciful thoughts at the forefront of her mind, she didn’t realize that someone jumping out of the bushes behind her and shouting “You!” was in fact meant for her. Only when “Jacqueline Natla, I know your secret!” followed the first yell did she stop, turn around and blink in confusion at the person standing there, pointing a finger at her with a victorious but slightly unhinged expression.
“Excuse me?” she said, bemused.
“I know,” the man, probably in his mid to late twenties, panted, “I know who you are.”
“I own a multibillion dollar company, many people know who I am,” Natla deadpanned, but her stomach was squirming slightly. Could someone somehow had learnt the truth about her? How? And what would they do with it?
She didn’t let any worry show on her face. No reason to give the man anything – he could be babbling complete nonsense for all she knew.
“No, no no no,” the man took a few steps towards her, yet still far enough to not encroach on her space, and he had one arm extended forward, waving his index finger very emphatically. “Not this, not the false identity you created for yourself. I know the truth,” his eyes were bulging, but his breath was slowly returning to normal.
“Oh my, the truth,” Natla drawled, ignoring her nervousness, and slowly started turnng to go in an attempt to make the crazed man finally spit it out.
“No, you can’t run away from me!” he exclaimed, taking one more step. Then he grinned widely, staring at her as if watching for her reaction. “There is nowhere you can run, Your Majesty!”
Her stomach dropped and she was sure it was visible on her face, because his grin somehow got wider. “Yes. Exactly. I’ve figured out everything!”
He took a deep breath, preparing to speak more. Natla threw a discreet look around them, noticing a few people watching the spectacle. Should she stop the man? Forcefully? But that would only show she had something to hide, that he wasn’t talking nonsense. So far, he hadn’t really revealed much anyway… She chose to wait for what he said next.
Unfortunately.
“You are the last Atlantean Queen!”
Shit.
“The Atlantis, it’s no myth! It’s all real!”
Shit. Shit.
What now, there were witnesses, she could still play it off as craziness but what if someone took it seriously, what then-
What then?
Natla blinked in sudden dumbfounded realization.
Because really. What she was, wasn’t illegal or anything. She was one of many immigrants living in the United States, having secured her citizenship in all proper ways.
Her past wasn’t a secret on purpose, it was simply not known and frankly, unbelievable. If she told people about it, they’d call her mad. And even if more about her past was known and believed… well, she wasn’t a fugitive, she had been broken out of her prison by an accident and the government that had sentenced her hadn’t existed anymore.
She could either deny this and try to ridicule the man, call him delusional, or…
“You’re right.”
“What?” the man paused in the middle of rambling about the island having been real but sunken.
“What you’re saying is true,” Natla said simply.
He stared at her. “You-” he frowned, probably thinking, the, he grinned, he laughed. “Yes! Yes I knew it! It’s true! You can’t hide who you are anymore!”
“I’m not,” Natla gestured to herself and to her surroundings.
His smile faltered again. “Yeah!” he said, a little less loud. “Y-yeah, that’s what I’m saying. I have so much evidence! You can’t deny all the proof I have!”
“And I’m not denying anything,” Natla nodded slowly, watching him flounder. How sweet. He was thrown off by the fact that she wasn’t arguing. “So what do you plan to do with it?” She raised an eyebrow.
Someone nearby snickered. Natla threw a glance at one of the onlooking pedestrians. And then at others. They were… amused. Good. More of them were starting to let out little giggles and snorts, and it wasn’t at her, but at the man.
His face grew red and he turned to their audience. “I’m right! She says I’m right! It’s all true!”
The people were enjoying the show. “No no, of course it’s true!” one called at him mock seriously, raising his hands palms out.
After all, one could ridicule people in a more passive way. Calling him crazy would be arguing back, but this… he was bringing all the ridicule upon him himself.
And if someone happened to believe it, look into it and somehow find the proof… well, Natla decided she didn’t care, and it couldn’t really harm her. But still, it was rather improbable.
As she watched the embarrassed man look around, shout and plead his case, she had to commend him on his reckless bravery. If he knew what she was, had he really thought she wouldn’t be able to make him disappear if she wanted to? He was lucky she found a non-violent way to get him out of her hair and-
-and let he continue on her way to get that coffee!
She sighed happily at the promise of some quiet time and a nice hot drink, turned around and walked off.