by Doctor Mythos
ID#36143
Earlier in the day, New Year’s Eve
“After what happened here at the Hallows Port, is it wrong for
us to expect more from our heroes than to simply fight, destroy, and then
disappear to their haven in the sky above us all?” Ruby Sinclair asked from the
podium, her arm stretched out to draw the camera’s attention to the ruins behind
her. Hulls of hundreds of ships of all sizes and shapes littered the bay, even two
years after Lady Phoenix’s attack. Or was it Krampus’s? Stories varied
depending on the source, as most news reports did.
“It is difficult
to believe that with all the abilities of the heroes and alien visitors to our
humble planet more can’t be done to not only clean up their messes, but to also
improve our world rather than constantly fight one another.” She pressed a
button on her remote and a holographic image of several prominent superpowered
individuals in battle appeared beside her. “This one frequently claims to be
the bringer of the destruction of the world. This one was responsible for incalculable
damages in North Onnotangu.”
She
went on and on for several minutes referring to many notorious characters with
clips of their wakes of destruction during battles. Then she switched to a
projector on her other side, projecting images of other heroes. “I don’t want
to be characterized as one-sided, so there are multiple individuals who truly
do go above and beyond with their service to humanity. Crossroads saved a
planeload of passengers from death during the Battle in Bursa. Last year, hundreds
of heroes collected food and tools for displaced by the World Corps activities.
After Las Vegas, Washington D.C., and Hollywood were decimated.”
Images
of the destroyed streets and buildings in each area played to her audience of
news journalists and gathered citizens attending her media conference. “Multiple
cities destroyed. One food drive. Is that enough?”
In the
crowd before her, a hand went up into the air. “Excuse me but is seems to me
you are trying to ask for regulation of the activities for BADGE and the world’s
heroes. In these times, isn’t that like pulling the police off the streets
during a crime wave?”
“Impatient
as ever, Mr. Hamilton,” Ruby replied. Possessing a doctorate in civil
engineering, she made herself the forerunner in the newly created field of integration
of powered individuals. “Questions were to be taken at the end of the
presentation, but I will answer that one. The addition of enhanced Morphonic
individuals to our society must be measured and evaluated to determine how best
we can incorporate them and survive as a culture. If we don’t, eventually a new
order will be imposed upon mankind as we know it by one or more of these individuals
out of the theory that might makes right. Look at what the World Corps recently
attempted under BADGE’s nose.”
“That’s
unfair to say, Dr. Sinclair. BADGE did everything it could to put a stop to
them and uncovered not only extraterrestrial but extratemporal interference by
unknowable entities manipulating those in charge of the World Corps,” Chaz said
forcefully. His role as BADGE’s official Sentinel News liaison clearly made him
protective of the heroes of the world. “They have fought on behalf of humanity
and the world far more than you give them credit for ever since Legion first
appeared.”
The rest of the crowd grew quiet,
sensing the beginning of a debate that would provide vital soundbites to share.
“They
have. I am grateful for that fact-,” Dr. Ruby Sinclair leaned on the podium and
brought herself closer to the microphone to punctuate her next statement, “-but
that DOES NOT DO ANYTHING BUT PROVE MY POINT. Fighting. Waging war on other
powerful beings. Why does having an enhanced ability only seem to result in fostering
a need for conflict? For destruction?”
She leaned
back from the microphone, searching the crowd to see if her comment struck a
chord with any of the audience. She straightened the lapels on her business
jacket, her hand brushing against a pin she had made from a broken piece of
glass butterfly wings found in the jewelry inherited from her mother’s
mothers’ estate. Just thinking of her grandmother emboldened her, recalling the
emotional stories of building a new life after immigrating to America last
century.
As if
on cue, a temporal rift, similar to those on the BADGE Orbital Space Station
last New Year, opened up next to Dr. Sinclair. Before anyone could call out to warn her, an armored arm reached out and grabbed her by the neck. Ruby screamed as she was pulled into the shattered aperture in
reality and disappeared as it closed.
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