A meeting at the Library (IC)

[quotemyname]

Vivian held up her hand between the two of them and turner her nose up and away, "I reject your reality and substitute my own." She looked back up at Gigawatt and smiled, "Come on, man. We live in a city of heroes, robots, mutants, and beings of pure energy!" With the last she gestured at Gigawatt himself. "You could make up any explanation and it would be plausible. But you could just as easily explain it away if you wanted. Unless your willing to put limitations or qualifiers on your arguments, you're essentially setting yourself up so that you can never be convinced. So I'll make you a deal. If Freedom Angel's wings are made of wax, then he's just a guy who can fly. If they're made of feathers, however, then it must be God's work."

[Synius]

"If his wings were made of wax, he has larger problems than belief he's an angel." Stories about wax wings never ended well.

"However, there is the possibility I am wrong. I didn't believe in creatures from other planets until I saw them. Didn't believe I would be able to fly until I could. So there is truth in what you say. However, I would suggest that Divine involvement is not always the case, even when someone claims it is. Just because someone says they're God doesn't make it so." While this was certainly a stimulating conversation, he wondered where it was going to go. Hopefully not in circles. He was curious enough about this whole thing to keep speaking, and he didn't want to tread old ground. New ground was always better.

[quotemyname]

Finally we're getting somewhere. At least he got the reference to Icarus.

"You know, most of the time when people claim to actually be God, they're wrong. But I'm not claiming that the Gods are here. The pact prevents that. But having powers that are granted by the gods is common enough. Or being an agent sent by them. That's what I'm trying to prove here." Vivian stabbed her open left hand with the index of her right hand to emphasize her point.

[Synius]

"Alright. The problem with such a thing is the fact that I could claim to be the living embodiment of Zeus' lightning bolt, and some people would believe that. The fact that it's a lie becomes irrelevant when it can't be proven one way or the other. And that's the part that bothers me. The claim that cannot be backed up. Angel-man could have been given his abilities after a really bad sandwich for all we know."

"I grant you the possibility that the man really is an angel come down from heaven, here to help in a time of need. However, making the claim is not the same as proving it. That's the point I'm trying to get across."

[quotemyname]

"And a good point that is," Vivian nodded in agreement. "Maybe we should call him and ask him to take us up there?" she laughed briefly.

"Unfortunately, this is somewhat of an impassible problem. You see, most people who claim divine powers or some such are given them during an audience with a god or some such thing. Typically that doesn't happen with a lot of witnesses around. In fact its just the opposite. It happens remotely, almost forcing people to accept that the blessed tells the truth. There's no way to see if an artifact is blessed by the gods, or if it merely holds some sort of scientific mechanism. Though I do suppose that the absence of that would say something..." Vivian paused with her chin on her hand, deep in thought.

[Synius]

"You have a very good point. The absence of a normal explanation would point in one of two directions. Either we just don't understand how it does what it does, or it is a legitimate artifact of a deity. Now I would normally be inclined to agree with the former over the latter, but for the sake of our discussion, I will cede the latter. Now, with something like a pair of wings on Birdman, I would start with testing DNA. If he's not human, then that lends itself toward otherworldly being, from who knows where. If he is human, than that would imply that it was a change to a normal person rather than something he was born with. And who this would be interpreted is up to debate. That is if the wings are really a part of him rather than a machine or what have you."

[quotemyname]

Vivian nodded, following his thought process. "Good scientific method. But have you considered the possibility that Freedom Angel may not in fact have DNA because his body chemistry may be above and beyond that?"

Next, on stump the super hero!

[Synius]

"A lack of DNA would indicate that he is not human. And at that point I'd be willing to say it's out of my field. I'm physics, not biology. Especially not biology from off world or from other planes of existence." While absurd, this was a fun little game. He wondered he he could get her to break before he did.

"But if we're going to play that game, what happens when he just happens to have a background in biology himself, and has mutated beyond the point of recognition?"

[quotemyname]

"Nice try," Vivian smiled, "But that really depends on whether the Jesus Fish magnet on the back of your car has legs or not." Vivian folded her arms, "Darwin calls that science." then raised an index finger straight in the air to emphasize her point. "While religion calls that Intelligent Design. Or in other words, a gift from God."

[Synius]

"I'm not quite sure that using a scientific experiment to alter the very fabric of your being is what Darwin had in mind. And I'm fairly certain it's not a gift from god either. If it is, then I won't be as unique anymore, and that's very depressing."

"However, as I said, that's just a possibility. And really, all of this is theory anyway. Until we have someone here who's been in contact with god, all of this is just speculation. Although, I will admit it is very entertaining speculation."

[quotemyname]

SVivian nodded. This was a classic case of unstoppable force meets immovable object. "So what would you say if I told you that I knew someone that has talked to the gods? It's not Freedom Angel, either. Would thatg explain why I believe this so dearly?"

This is a huge risk, Vivi.

[Synius]

"I would say you fooled me earlier. I would also say that that would explain quite a bit. And we'd be able to further this little discussion, as well."

"I'd say get a hold of them."

[quotemyname]

"Okay, I know they're busy right now. But they can probably reach you tonight. Here, hold on." Vivian pulled a cell phone seemingly out of nowhere. Checking the time, she said, "Be at the statue of the Centurion at nine tonight. I'll have them meet you there."

[Synius]

Who could it be? Was it someone even he had heard of, or a newcomer? The suspense was going to kill him. "I'll have to see if that's past my bed time, but I'm sure meeting this mystery person won't be too much trouble. At some point I'm going to have to figure out how you know this person, but for now we're dealing with larger mysteries."

Gigawatt was smiling. it was almost like testing a theory back in school. The theory had a larger scope than back in those days, but it was still fun.

[quotemyname]

"See, if I told you that, I would have to kill you." Vivian replied with a sweet smile on her face. "Now, get out of here. I have a book to read and a paper to write." Vivian stopped herself from giving Gigawatt a playful push for fear of getting shocked, or worse.

Vivian turned her back on the super powered spark plug and trotted back to her desk. She turned halfway and gave Gigawatt a tiny wave over her shoulder.

Who was the mystery acquaintance? Gigawatt would just have to wait until that night to find out!