[Fiction]Ask a Super Anything

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

It seems you're  past the point of wonder already. On that note, what role have comic books, especially the ones with superheroes, taken in your society?

 

When there are superhuman criminals threatening your city and all the able-bodied men you could've recruited are off fighting, the wonder passes quickly.

 

Sometimes I'm left in awe of how many futures I can see. It's a bit dizzying, to be honest. But I see other Supers every day. Pyros play with fire while idling on the street corners. Strongmen make good tips carrying luggage and other loads. There isn't much time for wonder, when it's a reality you see a hundred times a day.

 

Whitelaw: I suspect comic books will be obsolete soon, and good riddance. Have you seen some of the content these writers market to children? It's obscene! 

 

Lee: There is nothing obscene about women choosing to defend their city, Charles. On another note, I find it strangely portentous that many of those women didn't have powers.

 

Fantomah's powers are clearly demonic.

 

Name one demon who could—or would—cause panthers to rain from the heavens. 

 

I, um, I saw a new comic just the other day. Superman had to deal with a gang who'd caught the Super virus, and although he was more powerful than they, it was still quite the fight.I bought it off the news rack. It looked so good I couldn't just leave it.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Are there any laws specificly targeted at Supers, like harming a person using a power being treated differently from using a weapon or some kind of registration act?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Are there any laws specificly targeted at Supers, like harming a person using a power being treated differently from using a weapon or some kind of registration act?

 

You wish we were that organized.

 

All right, you wanted more details? Fine. The city council passed a few laws toward the beginning of this whole mess, doubling the penalties for any crimes committed using a power, reasoning that since a man with a power is twice as dangerous as a man with a gun, the punishment should be twice as severe. Look, I don't know how they figure these things either, but that's the law. You know how many we've arrested under it? Four. In every case, the Super was an idiot. A pyro who wanted the whole world to know he set fire to a truck. An electro caught in the act trying to electrocute somebody. Most Supers who use their powers for crime don't get caught because they're smarter than that. And how is an officer supposed to tell when some precog is using their power when robbing a bank? Maybe they dodge a bullet, or make some other dead giveaway, but most of the time, you're not going to know.

 

They passed a registration law, too, but hardly anybody's registered. Gillespie—when she came to apply, her name wasn't on the list. Newell's was, but Gillespie's wasn't, and she's not the only one, and there's not a thing we can do about it. Can't prosecute Supers we don't know about, can't turn away unregistered Supers who apply for Department positions. This whole deal is a mess.

[Curiosity he/him]

For Chief Cusick and/or the Rev. Whitelaw: Are there any known supers with superhuman retention (superlative eidetic memory)? Or is this too similar to personal applications of retrocognition?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

For Chief Cusick and/or the Rev. Whitelaw: Are there any known supers with superhuman retention (superlative eidetic memory)? Or is this too similar to personal applications of retrocognition?

 

Closest thing I've seen to that is a retrocog with good memory. Our department retrocogs just take notes on what they see. Their testimony, on its own, isn't admissible evidence in court—since they could be lying and only another retrocog can corroborate their story—but we've been using their notes as starting points for our detectives to find evidence that is admissible.

Edited February 4, 2016 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles