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[Avenger Assembled]

Fall 2022

Ethics 102 

 

Mr. Hawke had given the big class their instructions. Break into groups, go down the list of 'real world' superheroic ethical questions, and discuss what they thought was the right solution. When everyone had finished, they would write down their solution on paper, then look at what the actual heroes (or villains) had done in their place. Matching their solution wasn't necessarily the key to a good grade, but it was good to know why your solution differed. 

 

Neko had managed to pair off with Leon and gave him a soft smile as they listened to Holly Cline, with the poise and slight melodrama of a born showbiz kid, read the prompt. 

 

"You have subdued a notorious supervillain when she tells you that if you don't free her, she will send her agents from prison to attack your loved ones. She names enough details that you can tell she isn't bluffing." 

 

Holly laughed a little. "Good luck versus my loved ones!" Everyone knew about the exceptionally pretty brunette's Hollywood parents, the villain-turned-heroes Fast-Forward and Hologram. "But, honestly, you find out how she got this information and make sure she can't use it. I'd just go rooting around in her head until I found it. But not everyone can do that, so we need more..." she added, trailing off. 

 

Neko looked hopefully at Leon, or maybe one of the other students, her hands folded neatly before her, not trusting herself to speak, only her twitching tail showing her nerves. 

 

-

 

Over in his own group, Owain didn't need to think before he spoke after reading their prompt. "A grim foe indeed! I would recommend she be placed in the darkest dungeon one might find, and increase my watchfulness around those I love. 

[MoonSimply]

Carmen

Carmen was sitting down in her group, wishing that her varsity jacket she always wore at school was larger so that she could hide in it. In Mr. Hawke's class they were assigned to form into groups. Being in a group wasn't that bad, helping her get around some of her more serious emotional hang ups beyond just a few one-on-one's with a very tired counselor. The real issue was that she didn't really have family that she could consider loved ones as she first analyzed the question, trying to figure out what to write and say. In fact, she was chewing rather hard on her pencil, hidden behind the jacket like it was some sort of cover for her.

 

It was only when she thought of the orphanage and all those she knew there, "I'll shred that villainess up and when I'm done, I'll shred her cronies."

[Spacefurry]

Leon was more than happy to have gotten grouped with Neko, returning her smile. We’re they being sickenly sweet in public? He didn’t think so, he also didn’t care.

 

As Holly read the question like she was auditioning for a daytime soap, he rolled his eyes and leaned back. He snickered after she finished.

“I gotta agree, if someone thought they could go after my sibs they’d be hard pressed to catch them. I know everyone I care bout can take care of themselves.”

He glanced briefly at Neko.

“But, I’d still make sure they don’t think about actually doing it. Hard to give orders with a broken jaw and hands.”

[EternalPhoenix]

Wilona

 

Mr. Hawke has asked the duo of WIlona and Naomi to split up on this one. He wanted them to think for themselves, especially the latter. She had a habit of simply following Wilona’s lead when they were together. WIlona had complained as expected, but it was kind of…perfunctory? So, she was in Owain’s group. She laughed at the prompt. “I don’t have any loved ones to threaten except Naomi. She can handle herself fine. And if not,” She held up her right pointer finger. A flame danced briefly on her customary glove before she put her hand back down. “I’ll deal with ‘em myself.” She exhaled. “But you know, I’m not like you, Owain. An extra crispy tongue and hands would prevent any bullsh-“ She stopped herself, rolling her eyes. “Nonsense they might think up.”

 

Naomi

 

Naomi was simply sitting quietly with Neko,  Leon, & Holly. The only loved one she had was WIlona, really. And she couldn’t imagine Wil being in danger from anyone. Mr. James and Mr. Lucien, maybe? Hmm. Well, she liked them fine, but loved ones was stretching it. Plus, you know, it wasn’t like she wanted to hurt anyone. But Leon was speaking. “That’s bad, Leon.” She spoke quietly as usual, but indoors and close as they were it wasn’t as difficult to hear her as usual. Hmm. She needed an answer of her own, though…and now she looked like steam was about to come out of her ears. Because she was having a lot of trouble trying to think of a way to nicely persuade the lady not to do that. Because trusting cops to deal with it or doing something mean to her so she couldn’t do anything were both out. And if Holly was right, the answer couldn't be specific to their powers either. So tying the lady up with some invisible bonds forever wasn't on the table either. “Hide the loved ones, maybe?”

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah blinked, as he settled in his chair. The tall, lanky boy had started to fill out, which showed nore as he folded his arms across hos chest and he set his jaw while he wrinkled his nose, which in turn curled up his upper, showing off his distaste for the question. He was still in his human normal looking guise which is where he tended to be. He really only had one loved one, and she was... Well he didn't know what his mother was capable of, as she kept that part hidden still, given there was minimal conversations since the revelation of his father. And... Yeah go after his dad, that'd be funny.

 

After a moment he made a noise, in his throat. "I don't know. Like, really. I don't know what I'd do. Its a hypothetical, ya? So, so this includes future stuff, right? Which begs the question would there be a responsibility for people like us to add loved ones who cannot take care of themselves to some degree? And even if they can, there isn't... Like, Centurion died, and we don't know. Feels like a bad math problem where we're solving for X, but there's at least a Y, and probably the rest of the alphabet coming for us."

 

He turned his head and looked at a spot on the wall, his mind rolling around the idea, looking for all the angles and prospects that might come. "Feel the moral response, for me, is to let them go, because it's the immediate harm. But the smart move is to like bug or something to track the villain. But, like, it's a bad question, because how we react to loved ones isn't the same as strangers. And... Ya." His frown as large as he was, scowling, as he looked back at the rest of the teens.

 

[Gizmo]

"Jonah's got a good point," Ryder agreed encouragingly, walking over to the table from behind the lanky teen's seat and giving him a supportive clap on the shoulder. He didn't take a seat himself; it was enough of a challenge to contain his effervescent energy to a chair during a lecture and during a discussion his body language demanded more freedom. "We don't really have enough specifics to talk tactics. That's not really the point though, yeah? If we're approaching the prompt in good faith we have to assume there's a credible threat to hypothetical people we care about."

 

He looked about the group for signs of agreement, running fingers through his strawberry blond bangs with a dimpled smile despite the grim topic. "So obviously you're going to think 'I'll just stop them from giving the order' but that's not putting the genie back in the bottle, is it? Intimidation's risky, panicky people are more likely to pull a trigger than not and threats aren't actually a great deterrent in practice. If they were we'd all be saying to let her go!" Ryder nodded to some of the other students who'd been quick to chime in with his usual friendly demeanour in recognition of their bravery in getting a thorny conversation started. "Broken jaws or burned hands heal eventually and even if you did something permanent they'd find a different way to communicate eventually plus if they didn't have, like, a personal vendetta against you before they sure would then!"

 

The cheerful youth laced his fingers above his head in a stretch, rising up onto the toes of his paint splattered sneakers. "So if the plan is to force them not to make the call, you have to be to be talking about killing them, then and there, while they can't fight back." He shrugged with about as much gravitas as though he'd just suggested which take-out place to order from for lunch. "If that's off the table you need a different approach altogether. That's my thinking, anyway!"

[Fox]

"It's a matter of trust, then," said Natalia. "And consequences." She was not sitting with the group so much as on its periphery, with the easy excuse that she'd already been there and hadn't bothered to move, legs crossed as she delicately mulled the problem over. "I agree that, in good faith, we have to assume the threat is credible, and that lesser violence won't do in the long term. I disagree that we have enough information to decide - even in the moment, we'd know more than we do now."

 

She raised a hand, floating an eraser around her fingers. "If the villain is can be trusted to keep her word and she isn't an immediate threat, then letting her go isn't the worst option - we can always strike at her later from a better position, after safeguarding who we can or dismantling her network; she'll be busy for a time with securing her escape and lying low, which buys time to see to the safety of friends and family. Or, ignore her entirely, if she's likely to extend us the same grace...killing is messy, and I have it on good authority that it rarely improves anything. But if she can't be trusted to keep her word when released, or if the threat she poses is too great when loose? Then the best choice may be to crush her."

 

The eraser flexed outward in a rather painful-looking way before collapsing into rubber shreds. She looked up at the others, raising an eyebrow. "Intimidation is messy," she acknowledged, nodding to Ryder, "but there's something to be said for sending a message, or so I'm told. The consequences of letting the villain free are not limited to that one villain - now each and all would know how to escape your grasp, and the threats against your loved ones only increase...and if this enemy is willing to spill your secrets to their friends in and from prison, who else will they tell? If there are consequences for those threats, others are less likely to attempt them. But it isn't ideal in any case, and the devil's in the details."

[Avenger Assembled]

"'Tis the Devil indeed," opined Owain, looking uneasily at Ryder and Natalia. "There are - devils that wear men's faces," he added, "or those that serve him, that must be dealt with in the manner that befits them. But this - I think it must be a lesson that we are not alone, but sworn brothers and sisters of justice." he went on. "If there are dangerous secrets in the land, we might silence them before we silence any tongues. We might turn to powers such as Mastermind's," he said with a nod to Holly, "or even a spell to do the deed. I myself know a few. We need not fight such demons alone."  

 

At the other table, there was only one good answer to this question, of course. If someone threatened your family, you killed them. If they had minions who might carry out their orders, you killed them too. It could be done quickly and quietly so that no one else living in the city knew what you had done; or in some great, spectacular way so that everyone knew of the killings even if they had no way to point their finger at you. There were ways to do such things even to the powerful, if you were clever. 

 

Neko knew this answer as easily as she knew the taste of raw meat, but she also knew she could never say such a thing. She looked at Carmen and felt a stab of envy for the other girl who could speak so freely of killing, who had no fears of losing friends for such talk.  Her friends were friends with Neko Musume, the catgirl with the monkey friend who had a streaming channel - not with the bakeneko who had gone to war with the Crimson Katana and seen men killed with her own eyes. She  would not shame herself in their eyes, now or ever. Unconsciously, she took Leon's hand and squeezed it for a moment, her nails sharp against his skin before she released him. 

 

It is like - building one of their machines to Ryder and Natalia. They can plan but they do not know.

 

She blinked, staring at everyone with her large yellow eyes, tail flicking behind her. "Ohhh," she said carefully, "we should, ah, not do any killing," she said, gesturing with her delicate, callused hands, "It is not okay to do that. We should find ways to," she pointed to the side of her head, where ears would have been on a normal girl, "make them not know." She nodded to Owain and Holly, her serious face masking the turmoil within.  

 

Holly the telepath had fallen silent, eying the others as they spoke, and giving the catgirl a distinct look before she said, laughing nervously, "Woof! Y'all are - taking this one pretty seriously. Let's take a look at the historical answer..." She flipped over the card and said, "No solution - when the Conqueror Worm threatened the second Raven's personal life during his final arrest, he was left with a serious personal crisis - but before he could decide what to do, the Worm committed suicide while being taken into custody?" She blanched slightly. "Seriously?!" she asked, turning to address the teacher. 

Hawke explained the decades of terrorist activities of the Conqueror Worm back in the 60s and 70s - and how the second Raven, accused of his murder, had actually submitted to a telepathic probe by the first Scarab to prove the truth of his words. Looking somewhat mollified, Holly turned back to the group. 

[Gizmo]

Ryder wrinkled his nose in dissatisfaction. "Framing it as practicality versus morality is a trap, though. If it was actually practical places with the death penalty would have, like, zero crime!" He turned both palms upward, exasperated. "If you're going to kill the villain and everyone they might have told and everyone they might have told, it never stops. Morality barely event enters into it, it's just a bad solution!"

 

It was pretty clear that Mr. Hawke was planning to move onto the next scenario but Ryder continued in his rapid cadence, crouching down to about chair height and lowering his voice slightly in a faint compromise. "If you can track down all the 'agents', you make them a better offer. Nobody works for the Conqueror Worm if they think they have another option! Problem solved, network dismantled, no unintended collateral." He made little waving motions with both hands that Natalia recognized meant Ryder felt like he was stating the obvious. "If you're doing definite, immediate harm to avoid risking possible future harm you can't act like that's the big bold tough guy play. Take the big swing and do it right." He glanced back up to the front of the classroom then quickly back down to the table, mumbling, "That's what I was getting at, anyway."

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah took the clap to his shoulders with a meaty thud, and it made him look up to Ryder, for a moment, nodding at what he said. The boy wasn't judgemental

 

"Like..." He drew in a measure breath, "I say that not in the moment of it happening. I don't know if my loved ones could handle what's happening. I just don't know," Jonah added emphasis to the last sentence. His heroics had been a rescue thus far and he'd yet to be in a real fight, so this question was supposing a lot. But tended to not like hypotheticals 'cause they dropped all the context that'd come up with a situation.

 

He bobbed his knee, a little agitated, as he let out a slow exhale, and then another, his breath coming out in a foggy steam as the temperature started started to dip, his skin and hair changed to a more chilly countenance. Then Jonah grew still, and he turned his head to look at the teacher, his heavy brows knitting down into a scowl that made his eye sockets look cadaverous, "Why? Like, why the question, Mr. Hawke? Or this a Kobayashi Meru? Or, like, I dunno the guy bought like 42 watermelons." He said, name dropping the one pop culture reference his mom had successfully instilled in him, and rounding out with a reviled math problem.

 

 

 

 

[MoonSimply]

Carmen

"That's boring, why not just get em good. They aren't going to be coming after you if you make em bleed just a bit. Going after loved ones is so low that any villain or villainess that'd try and do it to me won't be able to walk for weeks. An eye for an eye I'll say," Carmen says. For as much as the young cat woman was raised in a sort of Catholic orphanage, Carmen wasn't too much strayed off the stricter teachings, but she had a tendency for a more increased physicality when it came to solving issues. Wither it was the cat in her or her own mind, it was hard to say with her young mind.

 

Carmen would write down in Spanish first before going back and writing it in English, "No worm gonna stand against getting squashed."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Life and death scenarios happen all the time for superheroes," said Hawke, coming over to answer the direct question from Jonah. "Sometimes the lines are clearly defined, when you're weighing principles against safety," he said with a nod to Owain and Holly, "or when you're considering how to best apply violence to guard yourself and your loved ones," he added with a nod towards Ryder and Natalia. "My own advice is to choose life, because we all know the consequences of vigilantes becoming judge, jury, and executioner. Jail is cold, and Hell is hot. But the question is, after you've done whatever it is you're going to do, are you going to be honest and forthright about it? Or sneak? Because if you can't be honest about what you've done, and if you can't defend the choices you have made, how are you any better than the Silencer?" 

 

 

[Nerdzul]

Last night had been a long one for the teenage dragon (crime after all never sleeps and a young superhero with an huge sense of responsibility doesn't as well), so Luke had found himself dozing off during class, sitting in the back row with the head on his desk. He wasn't so deep into slumber though, not to catch the drift of the conversation.

 

That was freakin' dark... He thought, as the teacher narrated the ending of the story.

 

In truth, he had thought plenty of times about the possibility of his family being in danger due to his superhero work, even before Claremont actually, after all, it was not like they were exactly safe when he was using  his new power to run around playing gangster. 

 

He would never admit it out loud, but the thought terrified him. For their safety, of course, that was the most important part, but truth was, the boy wasn't sure that he would have been able to reign himself in, should anything happen to Gabbo or to mom and dad or to Muirne or Leon or Matt or... well any of his friends actually... He found himself clenching his fists. Now, of course, in that situation, maybe he would have had a way to make the villain talk, people become very chatty in front of a set fangs each the size of their head, but what if he couldn't?

 

"I wish I would, but I don't think I'd be rational in that situation." The boy rubbed his eyes and raised his head from the desk at Ryder's suggestion. "Would you? I mean... not as a thought experiment... in real life... Do it, "the right way" when someone is going after your family?" He made an airquote gesture with his fingers. He didn't know Ryder much, perhaps his parents were superheroes, like many at Claremont, capable of defending themselves, Luke's, on the other side, did not have that luxury. "Someone you think will go after them for real?"

 

He nodded at Carmen's words, that was the very least what he would do.

 

He listened to Hawke, now far more awake. "I mean, no way I would kill them... I'm no freakin' villain" He was not a murderer after all, nor fancied himself as a vigilante. Still, it was not like letting the villain go was a solution either. "But if they hurt anyone of my family, I would make them wish I had..." He boasted, his words full of teenage bravado. Could he though? For real? His mind didn't want to delve on that thought too much. "Besides, you need to send a message..." That last part, he had learned in his pre-Claremont days. "You can't let every villain in town think that your family is fair game."

 

[Spacefurry]

Leon

 

“See, the firecracker knows what’s up.”

Leon glanced at Naomi and gave her an apologetic shrug.

“It’s a harsh world, most villains don’t respect anything but strength. To be honest that was the nicest answer I could think of.”

 

He gave Ryder a smirk.

“I don’t know, threatening loved ones sounds like it's pretty personal already. But Jonah’s not wrong. Too many things left vague in that one.”

He smirked.

“But there are plenty of things you can do to someone without killin’ ‘em. But giving them a little rope to hang themself with and catching them off guard later isn’t a bad tactic either.”

He added with a nod towards Natalia. When Neko squeezed his hand he gave her a smile.

“And intimidation can work wonders when done by someone with a knack for it. 

 

Leon made a face when Holly read the ‘answer’.

“Okay that was a B.S.”

He waved his hand and the card pulled from the telepath’s hand to flew to Leon’s. He read it again and shook his head.

“All that and the went out like a lil punk ass b-”

Leon cut off as Mr Hawke gave him a warning look.

“-like a wimp.”

He finished.

 

He nodded in agreement with Jonah.

“Next thing you know, they’ll be telling us ‘the best move is not to play the game’.”

He said sarcastically.

“Seriously, if they’re super villains they can’t be trusted to hold up their end to begin with. Even if you did let ‘em go, they could still double cross you.”

 

Leon looked back at his roommate.

“Thank you. If you let one person get the better of you, everyone else will think they can too. Then you have zero street cred.”

[EternalPhoenix]

Wilona

 

WIlona sighed. “Look, it’s not like I want to hurt people, okay?” Everyone in the room had to know she was damn smart, and that was at vicious odds with her usual temperament. “But survival is survival. I remember when the Terminus came. It was kill or be killed, yanno?” Her expression showed that she knew that “be killed” was the kindest option on that menu. “I’m not saying a random supervillain is that serious, but everybody’s gotta decide where to draw the line. If it’s between some piece of…crap…who’s chosen to be an evil…scumbag…” Wilona was visibly choking back the curse words at this point. “And the people I love, I know where I stand. And it’s not on principle.” She raised her hands up in defense. “Again, I don’t want to hurt anyone. I especially don’t want to kill anyone. I’d regret it for the rest of my life.” Her face went hard. “But I’d regret not protecting my own more. Simple as that.” She exhaled and then grinned. “But that’s what we have teammates for, right? To make sure it doesn’t get to that point? Where it’s solely up to me or somebody that thinks like me? So whatever. Plus you all know me. If I took someone off the planet you would know it was me without question.” She laughed. “Pillar of fire the size of a skyscraper stands out, you know?” Well, that came off a bit more casual than she’d like, but whatever.

 

Naomi

 

Naomi was not capable of making a speech like that. God, no. She was just sitting quietly. Again. Absorbing information. Thinking. Looking like steam was about to shoot out of her ears. She understood were everyone was coming from. That was the hell of it. She’d spent time on the streets. She knew reputation was important. If certain people thought they could walk all over you, they’d do it. She knew if it came down to protecting her own life, she’d kill. Not without hesitation or regret, but she did want to live, dang it. She wasn’t a pacifist, you know? Sometimes protecting the vulnerable meant you had to hurt people. But…”Heroes should be better. The Centurion was.” When you put on the costume and started being a superhero, it was supposed to mean something. Right? “He was first. He was best.” She was explaining it badly. As always words were hard. She made a little noise of frustration. “We. Stand. For. Something.” The punctuation was clearly unintentional. She was struggling to say it right. Again, words were hard. “It matters. A lot.” She didn’t know what else to say. And she wasn’t sure if she’d used up her quota of words for the day already.

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah had settled, as the teacher explained, sort of. It was a little aggravating, but he abruptly fell into laughs at the comment of of jail being cold and hell being hot. His chest shakinging and his voice a rumble that seemingly dropped several octaves. 

 

"'Kay. Ya. That's pretty good Mr. Hawke. I mean, like, bring up religion and talk of consequence in way that's built around something to be afraid is, I don't think, a good thing to do. Gonna show us the slides for STIs in health class next? Like, your question cannor ever place us in the place to be able to answer the question, except as like an exercise, and this discussion wont have bearing on how we act, right? Like, we can armchair quarterback from here till the rest of you are..." And he snorted and shook his head, rolling his eyes at realizing he was making a pun, "Blue in the face, but, like... Okay, let me ask you all this, you are free climbing a sheer cliff, with no rope, or anything, and your grip slips. What do you do?"

 

Unfolding his hands he held them bladed and gesturing with them to the table, at the point he was driving at. "Now answer that question again five years from now, a decade, so on. The answer changes. Because circumstances might be different, and you definitely should be different. Even that's a trick. Because the situation presented might seem to have all these options, but there is a very few actual responses: let go or grab at the cliff. And one response is definitively the right one, at least in the view of the asker."

 

His attention went back to the teacher, "So, I don't know, I will never know. I'll just do my best in that moment. Because I am not better than anyone, and I am gonna do my best to not be ruled by fear as the reason for my decisions, because it's liks the Mind Killer and stuff."

 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Well-said!" offered Owain to Naomi, giving her a reassuring smile. "I met the Centurion only once, but he was a fine man, a veritable model of, ah, valor." 

 

"Wait," said Leroy, focusing on Owain with his one good eye. "You _met_ the Centurion?" 

 

"Aye, yes," Owain was about to say, before he fell silent to let the other boys talk. 

 

When the boy was finished, Hawke smiled at Jonah with the look that teachers have given clever young men from time immemorial. "It sounds like you're already thinking ahead to defending your ethical position in next week's essay, Jonah. I look forward to reading it." 

 

Her ears flat against the top of her head and her tail lashing, Neko reached out and snatched up the next card. She flipped it over, took a moment to adjust to the English, and said in a low, sharp voice, "A close friend of yours has suffered a series of personal tragedies and found it difficult to cope. Recently, you learn they have joined a meta-supremacist group that preaches the superiority of the superpowered to the unpowered. They are not a violent organization but their rhe-toric? makes you uncomfortable. They tell you that if it bothers you, he won't bring it up around you. Your friend has little remaining support networks other than you. What do you do?"

 

"They're not my friend anymore," said Holly flatly, her hands pressed against the table in front of her. "No Nazis." 

 

"We do not know he is a Nazi," protested Owain at the other table, where Leroy the cyborg had just finished stuttering through his own read. "surely if a loved one has fallen into sin, it is our duty to lift him out, not cast me - him down!" he said, flushing and falling silent. 

 

[Fox]

"I try not to make friends with the weak-minded," said Natalia, straightening one of her sleeves. "I suppose I should feel insulted on the behalf of the hypothetical idiot, whether or not their idiocy was induced sympathetically."

 

She sighed, settling into the question proper. "I am not well-suited for the...touchy-feely diplomacy this kind of issue might take," she said, gesturing at the card with one hand, "but I know people who are. I assume I'd draw from their wells of advice or make the appropriate introductions. If they were ever worth being my friend, there must be something of value there and their support network may grow - ideally, the supremacist rhetoric would starve itself in their brain once they had better influences in their life."

 

She paused, lip curling, and added: "In the absolute worst and most dire case, I might throw Ryder at them. It's a bit like stopping an ant with a tactical bomb, but it does get the job done."

[Spacefurry]

Leon

 

“Oh ya, cause those neeeever turn violent.”

Leon said dryly and leaned back in his chair.

“Personally, I’d say give ya’ boy fair warning. If they’re cool about it, I’ll be cool about it. Can’t force people to think like you and still call them a friend.”

He paused a moment in thought before continuing.

“Now, if I see them walking blindly towards a rooftop, I’d have to step in. But, if they continue to insist and run headlong towards that ledge…”

He raised his hands in a ‘that’s that’ gesture.

“They’re an adult. They can deal with the fallout.”

Leon leaned forward again and rested his elbows on the table, more serious than his usual attitude shows.

“After that, I’ll be waiting at the bottom to give ’em a hand back to their feet and set them straight. Cause that’s what friends do.”

[TheAbsurdist]

Jonah managed to shrink a bit at the grin from the teacher. "Probably gonna be bad, my writing is a solid C. At best. But I'll try." He then shrugged, knowing he'd back himself into a corner, and reminding why he didnt have surges of bravado, but, well here he was. His expression was a mix of bemusement and contrition.

 

He blinked at the question, and he shrugged a bit. "Another one where I'd know more, like if a friend just sort of became a supremacist with nothing leading up that kinda says... Mind control or some sort of influence, which, I guess punch the guy responsible for it, if that'll work. As for like a progression into it that's natural, I'd like to think I could stop it, but I dont think I am very convincing... And it's really hard to convince people they're wrong, let alone they've been conned."

 

He drew in a deep breath, his eyes flicking back and forth as he was thinking, and organizing it. "I guess it's less my friend, and more who their new bros are. But if my friend is hurting people, then I have to stop them."

[Gizmo]

"Well, I'm just one guy but I'll alway try!" Ryder told Natalia in a dimpled aside before letting his expression dim a few degrees. "So, in the restaurant and bar business there's this, like, wisdom, I guess. Guy comes in to your place with some borderline Nazi punk patches on his jacket but he's being all polite and you don't want to make a scene so you let it go. And the guy keeps coming back and he never causes trouble while he's there and he turns into a regular. Then he starts bringing his buddy and that guy's being reasonable, too. And by the time one of their buddies starts being unreasonable you look around and realize you're running a Nazi bar, now." His mouth twisted in distaste, the expression looking a little alien on him. "I don't go in for slippery slope stuff but supremacist rhetoric is inherently violent, yeah? 'Wait and see' is not a viable option."

 

He did a quick scan around the room and gave another self-aware shrug. "This friend might have a harder time paying off the meta-supremacist thing as no big deal to me specifically? If I've let a friend having a bad time get that far gone, though, I think I'd feel responsible for talking sense into them anyway. And maybe have a follow-up conversation with their club's leadership if they're hanging around." It was tough to say whether or not Ryder intended 'conversation' to be euphemistic or not.

[Avenger Assembled]

"That is nice," said Neko, her ears turning back straight-up atop her head as her tail slowly settled down behind her. "Good friends." No one had asked what she thought, and she didn't actually have to offer anything - so she kept her thoughts to herself. She turned the card around and read "Intervention: When Galatea learned her friend Mary Minstrel had joined a metasupremacist group, she disguised herself as a new recruit, only to learn that the leader - the-" She hesitated over the words and wound up showing the card to Leon, flushing slightly. 

 

Over at the other table, Owain was finishing, "the Groovy Guru, was a psychic using his mental powers to brainwash new recruits. Immune to the effects herself, she liberated her friend from domination and they defeated their foe. Ah-hah!" he said, sounding delighted. "So it was corruption to be fought, delightful! There is hope yet." 

 

Holly scoffed audibly as Leon and Neko finished at their table. "Great, every time." Neko shot her a puzzled look before the telepathic girl went on, "Every time there's a mind-controller in one of these stories, they're the bad guy." Mastermind, as she called herself, was a formidable psychic but most of her abilities revolved around the control of other minds rather than communicating with them. 

 

Neko smiled thinly, her pointy front teeth just visible. "It is like with - the supremacists. They fear what they cannot control." 

[Nerdzul]

Now fully awake the teenage dragon found himself on Ryder's side of the conversation this time, rather than Leon's . Wait and see? No way.

 

"Of course I'm gonna do anything to get a friend out of it..." He replied confidently. "I mean, I can snoop around a little to see if this group is actually harmless as much as they say... but... come on... A non violent super-whatever organization yeah k-" Luke stopped himself before swearing in class, in his old school, perhaps he wouldn't have, but in Claremont, well, there were expectation. Besides it was perhaps a tiny bit ironic that he was also a 'super-whatever' of sort and did end up using violence to keep the bad guys in check, wasn't it?

 

"I won't let them get deep into this without at least trying to convince them that the rhetoric they are feeding him is bull..." Although, that might not be exactly easy if they are already indoctrinated and without using his powers (he was already kinda iffy about messing with people minds and for a good cause and manipulating a friend with magic, well that was a big no in his books), but still, Luke was convinced, naively perhaps, that he could find a way.

 

"And since these people prey on the little guys that feel abandoned and alone..." There was perhaps a hint in his voice that he was speaking from experience. A friend in need, alone, falling prey to a supervillain, converted against his will when the dragon-boy was too distracted to notice, he was not gonna make that mistake again. "I'd do my best to make my friend feel like he isn't." 

 

"If the group isn't letting him get out, well, then I'm gonna show them, they are making a mistake. Mind control, or otherwise."

Edited December 10, 2022 by Nerdzul

[MoonSimply]

Carmen

It was clear by now that she was rather bored with the question, both mentally and physically checked out with it that she was ignoring most of the philosophical and ethical conversation about the question. Carmen was just not that kind of person to do so for very long unless she really cared for the subject at hand. In this case she wasn't and so was now doodling in her notebook of those around her. In her mind expressed by the paper, Leon was turned to look like a piece of crumpled paper with a cartoony eyes, Luke a lazy looking dragon over a horde of gold with poor Owain in a knight outfit as a skeleton. Jonah was eaten by an evil looking whale. Several others in the class would also be made into cartoon depictions, at times crudely so. Neko was drawn as a cat stuck in a tree.

 

The you catwoman would even draw up the teacher Mr. Hawke as such, tail waving around idly in her seat as she smiled drawing it. Carmen would draw him exactly as he was, save for his head, which was now a hawk, a literal one drawn in a jokingly anthromorphic way. For her, it was simply better for her to just have fun drawing then dealing with all this group conversation.

[EternalPhoenix]

Wilona

 

WIlona frowned. “So we’re just assuming it’s a supremacist group, then? Maybe they’re just meta-positive, you don’t know.” She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Look, fascism is dumb. Antifa for life, savvy? But pretending I’m not better in some ways than some rando walking the street is just as dumb. And lying besides. I can burn through steel, flip cars with wind, and fly. It’s not ‘worrying rhetoric’ that I can do things Joe Sixpack can’t; it’s the truth. But!” She held up a finger. “That doesn’t give me the right to tell our boy Joe how to live his life. Yanno? So of course I’m gonna check the situation out and if they’re talking fascism instead powers are the…best…then I’m shutting ‘em down personally.”

 

Between Neko and Owain, the truth of the matter was revealed. “See? Oh, no. It was a bad guy plot. Oh, no. I sent him to the burn unit for being a fascist. Simple and easy.”

 

Naomi

 

Naomi was still puzzling it over, and she was tired from the talking she’d done already. So mainly she was watching Carmen doodle. It inspired her to pull out her own sketchbook. She wasn’t checked out, but having an opinion on something so subjective was itself, well…kind of a pain. People were different. You couldn’t take a standard approach for every possible friend. Some might get mad at you for talking to them about it. Some might only pretend to listen. Others still might listen for real. And then mind control was involved, too. She was sorry most mind controllers were evil, and tried to let Holly sense that feeling. Whether it worked or not, well. Naomi wasn’t a telepath. At all. She was only good at drawing and being invisible.

 

Said drawings were of the Groovy Guru. Or rather, what that name and those powers inspired in her eccentric artistic mind. 70s psychedelic art in colored pencil, my word. With both Mary Minstrel and Galatea opposing him. Those two had pictures in her history textbook that she remembered well enough to draw with.