Super what now?

[bestdadinamestris]

There's nothing Hughes loves more than his family.

There's nothing Hughes loves more than anything other than his family than information.

The Nexus was a strange cross-section of a universe that the Intelligence officer simply didn't understand. He was doing his best to accommodate all of the strange goings on in his mind by learning about and understanding them a little at a time.

The fact that there was a portal to and from the Nexus in his world was growing on him. The grand scale of technology beyond what was available in his world was daunting, but didn't come up as much since he avoided most of the shops in the Forum. And some of the characters that had appeared in the Nexus? Well, if they were human, it was understandable. Weird, but understandable. Everything else? Well... he was just going to have to take some more time for everything else.

He liked being in the Forum, picking up bits and pieces as he simply listened. That's how he got onto this whole thing about some people being "better" than others, in some rather unscientific sounding ways. He'd spent a while trying to glean more information about it and failed quite spectacularly. People simply accepted that's the way things were. Not Maes Hughes. He needs to know, and if listening isn't enough, then, well... Sometimes, it's just easier to reach out and gather information the old fashioned way - by asking.

"There's been a lot of talk in the forum lately about super heroes and people doing super human things. It's all a little too vague for my taste. If I don't know how to define something, I can't know it when I see it. So, my question to you is this: How do you define the term 'super hero?' Or, rather, what makes a person a 'super hero?'"

Comments

[smartass_captain]

"Any man that chucks an arrow by hand off a building and skewers a thug is a hero to me." Jim's looking a lot better today, reclining against a wall tossing some idle object he'd found from hand to hand while he replies.

[bestdadinamestris]

Hughes nods thoughtfully, but ultimately looks unsatisfied with Jim's answer. No offense to meant, Jim, but your single example is the opposite of helpful.

"So only someone who can skewer a thug by throwing an arrow with his hand" let's not talk about how implausible that is right now, Hughes "is a super hero? Or are there more broad criteria someone can fall under and still count as a super hero?"

[smartass_captain]

"I've only met the one." Jim shrugs and tosses the paper weight higher before snatching it back. "Though, Verity's a super hero too I think. She's got special powers. That counts, right? Someone who's super human. Better than an average human? She knows if someone's lying. The other guy is a super hero by trade, fighting off crazies and the like. Also robots. I'm pretty sure that was brought up at least once during story time."

I warned you :P

[brave_heart_verity]

Well, this whole subject gets a sigh from Verity. It's a particularly nasty socio-political debate where she comes from, the sort of thing she brings up when she's ready for Thanksgiving dinner to just be over and is ready to piss people off. (This is probably not long after they've run out of wine.)

"They're people with super-human abilities. Either through training or magic or science or accident. Radiation comes up a lot. Usually they're not the ones starting the fights. When we're lucky, they're the ones ending them. You know we have one here. You should talk to Clint."

[bestdadinamestris]

Two examples. Getting helpful, though the idea that Verity is a super hero seems a little strange to Hughes. Perhaps he'll ask her about it sometime, if he ever happens to catch her attention, that is.

"Wait, you're saying these people are super heroes for hire? As in, it's their job?" That was quite the subtext he'd missed during his listening. "How would someone apply for that kind of job?"

I'm so ready for this. Bring it on!

[bestdadinamestris]

See? How hard was that? Someone's at least on the right track for helping Hughes figure all this out.

"Is it a common thing, for people to have these kinds of abilities? Because if it's as simple as something someone can do that others can't, I have a whole lot of super heroes back home that don't know about it."

He pauses a moment, thinking. His hand goes to his chin and the corner of his lip curls up in what Verity might guess is a smirk. "Super-human abilities, such as..." Beat. "The ability to know when someone is lying?"

[smartass_captain]

"Hell if I know. He's part of some team called The Avengers. Far as I can figure, any time aliens attack from outer space or crazy people try their hand at world domination, he suits up to go kick ass. With his arrows." Jim thinks this sounds kind of cool when he explains it.

He'd totally like to see that some day.

[aw_hawkguy]

Here, Colonel Hughes, have a vintage Avenger, slightly damaged. He's even got his bow, today, and a few bundles of arrows, which he's shooting one at a time at a target he chose at random some distance away. It's a really bad day to be that street sign.

"We've got super heroes where I'm from. Mostly, it comes down to two things: you can do something most folks can't, and you help people with it." Twang.

His shot grouping is ridiculously tight for two hundred yards. He hasn't had one fall outside the "O" of "LOITERING" yet.

[bestdadinamestris]

"There's a whole team of them? And they all work to save the world together?" His hand goes to his chin in thought. "I wonder what makes the rest of the 'super heroes.'" This is turning out to be a lot more intriguing than Hughes had suspected.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Oooh, clever boy, you found out my oh-so-closely guarded secret." She's so not impressed by this, or at least, is trying to pretend she doesn't care. "So who told you?"

But she's trying not to be entirely rude, so she'll answer his other question. "How common powers are, where I'm from, depends on the current status of the mutant population. People keep screwing around with them. Sometimes it's really common, sometimes they're practically extinct. We're not talking about the winners of a state little league tournament, though. The people who get called super-heroes are the best of the best in just about everything but knowing how to dress themselves."

[bestdadinamestris]

Clint gets a raised eyebrow of appreciation as Hughes watches him terrorize the street sign. He's sure the sign had it coming anyway.

"It requires both parts, though, yes? What happens if you have only one of the two?"

Hughes looks to offer a hand to Clint for shaking, but quickly thinks better of it. He's enjoying watching the target practice a little too much. "Maes Hughes, by the way. I take it you're the... Avenger I've heard about? Clint... if I recall correctly." Don't worry - he's not stalking you Clint. He's just really good at listening.

[aw_hawkguy]

"Well, if you're not helping people," twang, "you're not much of a hero, right? But it's not like you hafta have laser eyes or robot pants or whatever." Twang, Robin Hood shot (doubters can call it the law of averages, as there's not much space in the O that's not already arrow-occupied). "And hey, you do anything long enough, you'll get good at it, right?" Twang.

"Yeah, Clint Barton, nice to meet you. You've heard of me?"

[smartass_captain]

"Some guy with rage issues, a drunk with a robot suit, a spy, a super soldier, and Clint. I think there's a god too. It's really hard to follow sometimes." Jim doesn't know if they're being serious sometimes either. it makes it hard to know for sure.

:Like I said though, Clint's the only one I know. He's really chill though."

[bestdadinamestris]

He offers a small shrug. "No one told me." A strange, but true statement. "I picked it up while I've been here. It's hard to mistake a woman with brightly colored hair, tattoos down both of her arms, and enough sass to take down even the hardest of men, though." He smirks. Yes, Verity, he's quite pleased with himself right now, even if you're not impressed.

"So, basically, what you're saying is that there are a lot of people who can do things better than the average person, or have abilities that average people don't. But the only way to be a 'super hero' is to be the best humanity has to offer?" He wants to latch on to that dressing comment, but honestly, he doesn't understand enough to win that one.

[bestdadinamestris]

Gods, guys in robot suits, super soldiers. Hughes is beginning to realize why people talk about super heroes with a kind of wistful tone. They sound more like strange fairy tales than real people. Well, except for the robot suit.

"I'll be sure to look him up. Get his 'expert opinion,' as it were. Thanks." He offers a smile to Jim. It's a good start!

[brave_heart_verity]

"Oh dear, you mean my disguise isn't working?" Geez, it's almost like she expects to be noticed when she looks like this. The comment about her sass gets a flicker of a smile despite her best efforts.

"Well, they also have to be willing to go out and fight the villains. That's where the 'hero' part comes from. Not everyone with powers is a good person."

It's a pity he didn't ask about the dressing comment. She's got pictures. The Hawkskirt is always a crowd pleaser.

[bestdadinamestris]

"Point taken," Hughes concedes. Super-human abilities plus selfishness would be a combination that wouldn't lead to much hero-like behavior. "Would you consider the fastest reader on the planet a super hero, then? Or just super?" He's not trying to be smart, he's really just trying to get a handle on all of this.

"Yes." A smirk makes its way across his face. "The people of the Nexus are quite chatty about some of the more fantastical things they see and hear."

[bestdadinamestris]

"Can a person who can see through lies even disguise themselves? I'm just wondering about the intricacies of that kind of irony." He's not going to stop smirking. He's enjoying her sass.

"But of those who are good people, only the best of them get the 'super hero' title? Is it something they give themselves or something given to them?" So many questions. At least he's being kind enough to space them out.

He may come back to it. He's still parsing through everything she said the first time around. Don't hide those pictures just yet!

[aw_hawkguy]

"Depends. Are they, like, analyzing data, putting together lots of stuff to figure out the big picture and catch bad guys? Or are they just reading Robert Jordan in an afternoon?"

He picks up a different arrow, one with an odd cylinder of some kind, firing it to one side at an upward angle; the cylinder expands into an off-center loop, pulling the arrow into a wide, curving path.

"And they talk about me?" He puts another arrow into the sign, and catches the boomerang arrow as it comes back. And he really doesn't see what's remarkable about that.

There's a Sokka joke to be made about that link...

[bestdadinamestris]

"I was just asking in general, but I suppose your questions answer mine - it depends on the context in which they use their abilities." He pauses for a moment, his hand resting on his chin. "Would that make anyone who is above average and trying to catch bad guys a super hero? Or is there some special qualifier?"

Wow, that... that thing with the boomerang arrow. Both of Hughes' eyebrows go high onto his forehead as he watches that one. Clint may not see what's so impressive about it, but Hughes is loving it. It's so strange to see someone from a universe with better technology than his using what must be considered by many places an obsolete weapon so well.

"Those tricks you do with your arrows," Hughes points to the sign and then to the boomerang arrow in his hand, "that gets a lot of people talking. It's not something people see every day and it gets a lot more attention than you seem to realize."

[brave_heart_verity]

"You think the tattoos grew spontaneously as some kind of sign to advertise my abilities? Sorry. I got them the old-fashioned way. I could try to look like everyone else if I wanted to." Her tone suggests a question: why would she want to?

"I think people can want to be super-heroes, and can call themselves that, but whether they're accepted as such by society is another thing. Is someone a hero as soon as he becomes a cop or she becomes a doctor? Or do they have to do something to earn the admiration of their peers first?" She's not as dumb as she looks.

Maybe. We'll have to come back to it.

[aw_hawkguy]

"Pretty much. I mean, there's registration now, but for a long time it was just whoever went out and did it. Made for some confusion about which side people were on, too. Newspapers talk about some guy in a mask, bein' all spooky around places where crimes happened, someone else in a mask figures that guy must be a crook, and goes out to try to bring him in. Oops! Turns out he was hangin' around crime scenes because he was looking for clues. Big misunderstanding." He sighs. "It happens."

Clint flashes a grin--once a showman, always a showman, and it's good to have an audience. "Mostly I just do target practice, here. I haven't really brought the trick arrows. 'Cept for the boomerang arrow, here."

[bestdadinamestris]

"I didn't mean to suggest you were disguised now - I meant to suggest it might be difficult to hide those things that make you you, as you are now. The hair and tattoos might be simple to cover up, but they're not what really makes you who you are." He didn't mean for his sass to be taken the wrong way. Honestly, he was just wondering what she would see if she put on a disguise now and looked at herself in the mirror. Better luck next time, Hughes.

"I see what you mean." He takes a moment to think before continuing. "What you mean to say, then, is that anyone with the abilities can be super, but that the 'hero' part is completely relative?" He wouldn't dare accuse Verity of being dumb. He's heard many a tale of her sass and wit.

[notalldead]

"Hey, Hughes. Long time no see! Yer lookin' as hearty as a buck." The zombie gives a friendly wave before cramming his hands back into his jeans pockets. He hunches his shoulders in a shrug after considering the question for a second.

"Weeeellll, there's the fellas in the comic books who can fly and dodge bullets and whatnot, but that stuff's all made up. If I were to call someone real a superhero, those'd be the type who are real selfless. Real clever 'n strong, ain't afraid to pick a fight and finish it. Stickin' up for others, 'specially ones what can't do it for themselves. Brave to a damn fault. That's what I'd say."

[brave_heart_verity]

"We're all who we are no matter who much we try to hide it," she points out with a little smile. "I don't generally like disguises, for rather obvious reasons."

"Right. Some people decide to do terrible things with their powers and are called super villains. Some people, like me, generally stay out of the whole 'let's see who ends up in the ER first' business. I think we're usually called cowards." Which she might not entirely disagree with. "There's a strong expectation that anyone who has powers has to use them for the public good or something."