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+Topic: So...Skitter. Yeah.
In: Boards News Heroes America
Bagrat (Original Poster) (The Guy in the Know)
Posted on April 20, 2011:
I'm pretty sure we've all seen the video. If not, here it is. Dear god, I didn't know a person could scream like that, even if he was a Changer. I just...I'm torn. Part of me is glad that a murderous psychopath can't hurt anyone again, but part of me is completely terrified. And apparently they had her guarding Hookwolf and Lung, among others, for Birdcage transport. By herself.
So, yeah, I think I'm gonna go with shit-my-pants terrified on this one. But what do you think?
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Jazzhands (PRT Wife)
Replied on April 20, 2011:
Look, yes she's frightening in this, but with hubby in the PRT I know some things about the major players, so let me reiterate: Animos was a Changer, yes, but his real power was in his Trump rating. If you were caught in his scream's AoE, you'd have your powers temporarily neutralized. Skitter's power is to control bugs and those monsters that look like bugs. Take away that power, and they act like giant monster-bugs would normally act. In essence, Animos committed suicide-by-cape.
Nuclearpickles (Veteran Member)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
Even if Animos' death wasn't her fault, Skitter's still in tenuous control of giant murder machines. After seeing those things' true selves, I don't know if I can feel safe with her on the streets.
Chaturagh (Verified Cape) (New Orleans Rogue)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
No fucking way you just said that. So now if a cape's powers are scary or dangerous we shouldn't let them help? I'm sure you were singing a different story when she melted Lung or Regent killed der Klingengeist (aka Kaiser). What about Sele, whose power is to suck the water out of living creatures? There's virtually no peaceful application for that power, yet he's a trusted member of the Protectorate. Because I use necromancy and Prophet is independent, does that make me a threat too? Want to throw me in the Birdcage right alongside some of the people I helped put there post-Katrina?
People want to help. Let them help. Unless you think the cops can handle the Endbringers by themselves. How about when the 9 come calling? We're all in a bad situation, but we can try to make it better. Or we can let our fear control us and collectively buttfuck humanity.
You're toeing the line here, Chaturagh. I get that you're upset but tone it down or you'll run into the banhammer. –TM
Happyfish
Replied on April 21, 2011:
I get where both of you are coming from, but let's calm down for a second. Yes, Skitter is terrifying. Yes, we need heroes to deal with the Endbringers and with villains. I think we need to take a wait-and-see here. Skitter's "victim" was an unrepentant murderer; I just can't see that as anything other than self-defense. Now, if she flies off the handle again or outright executes a fucker, THEN I'll agree we have a problem. For now, though? I think her monsters were justified.
Rosary (Verified Cape) (Haven)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
This is a real moral quandary for me. All life is sacred, after all. Yet on the other hand, we should be permitted to defend the sanctity of life. If evil encroaches, our first priority should be protecting the lives of the innocent, not of the aggressors. While I fundamentally disagree with kill orders I can't say that Skitter should have let the Teeth kill her. She's trying to do good, they were doing evil.
Da_man_downunda (Veteran Member)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
That's some dangerous moral absolutism there. All life is sacred, yet some is more sacred than others? I'm not saying you're wrong, necessarily, but that maybe your reasoning is.
Chaturagh (Verified Cape) (New Orleans Rogue)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
Okay, now that I've taken some time to calm down, let me be a bit more reasonable.
I also do my best not to kill. Of course, the Returned don't always follow my exact orders, so that's a problem. But they've also never harmed a bystander, cop or hero. Prophet has killed two villains so far, the rest of my Returned have three kills among them. While I regret not being able to bring them in alive, I don't feel guilt over their deaths. Every single one of them was a bloodthirsty killer and my home is a safer place without them.
Skitter obviously has better control over her (creations? Partners?) than I do, at least until a Trump steps in, so I think we don't have to be as afraid of her as people are making it out to be. Maybe it's just because the kill was so brutal. It's one thing to just shoot or stab somebody; to watch a person be ripped apart, screaming all the while? That provokes a visceral reaction in us.
Xenomalleum (Sneakiness!)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
Wait, Chaturagh, you've killed people before? I know the basin feuds were a rough time, but I didn't realize they got that brutal. Did the records just get swept under the rug or something?
Chaturagh (Verified Cape) (New Orleans Rogue)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
Yeah, a lot of the records from that time were lost or destroyed. I don't even remember the names of half the villains I iced, mostly because they were newcomers looking to indulge in a rudderless city: make it some sort of modern Tortuga. But seeing people who'd survived the flooding, the riots, the gang activity, only to be cut down by some sort of evil road-trippers? Yeah, that shit didn't fly.
Life was brutal, and we were basically reduced to animals, but I stayed because there were people who needed protecting. I'm no hero; I don't do this for a living. But I have power and I take offense to those who treat people as nothing more than meat.
Rubberbabybuggybumpers (Verified Dropout)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
This is getting heavy. These are some deep philosophical questions pointedly not being asked.
...*grabs popcorn*
(BREAK)
+Topic: Nilbogette
In: Boards Cape Theory Heroes Undersiders
KittyKittyFangFang (Original Poster)
Posted on April 20, 2011:
Okay, so first Skitter supposedly had some monster she used in the big brawl at the end of the gang war. Then she has that Atlas bug. Now she has a whole litter of crawling and skittering abominations.
She claims she found Atlas. Does she think we're stupid enough to believe she found all the others too? What, did Blasto flush his mutant goldfish? With the mutations and the monsters, she's obviously some sort of monster-maker.
Two of my uncles died in Ellisburg. Is this how the PRT honors their sacrifice? Letting another living plague run around free as a bird?
(Showing page 19 of 19)
Mugglicious
Replied on April 21, 2011:
What is the problem with you people!? You're ready to start a witch hunt against somebody who's fighting to protect you? I'm old enough to remember Marvel comics and this is the kind of shit I'd expect in X-Men's dystopian world: "He has powers and saved my family's lives! Run him out of town!"
I get that she's different and different is scary. But we live in a world where people fly, space and time are mutable, and Godzilla's cousins come out to play. Taking that into consideration, if she really is that powerful, do we want to chase her away and convince her to stop doing good?
Brocktopus (Veteran Member)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
Jeez, what're you, her mom? People sure are going to great lengths to protect this freak. I hear the local PRT's bending over backwards for her.
Scanner (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied on April 21, 2011:
I know Skitter personally. She's suffered through experiences that would completely shatter most people, even most capes. Since she hasn't gone Nilbog yet, she's not going to. Stop with all the hatred and paranoia. Something else I know personally is that ordinary people can cause much more damage than capes and you're setting up for some genocidal ideologue to come along and grab the torches and pitchforks.
Bluebell_bonnet
Replied on April 22, 2011:
Bit melodramatic there, Scanner. But I agree with you that this has the potential to go too far. Do I want more oversight for independent capes, especially ones as shit-your-pants scary as Skitter? Yes. But I don't want them locked up, if for no other reason than so they can fight villains and Endbringers.
(BREAK)
"Mr. Hebert?" Nurse Shelby Alene cracked the door and saw, as usual, the lights off except for the glow of the smartphone. She stepped inside, one hand on her hip. "Danny..." The name came out as an exasperated huff. "You need to get some rest. I know someone on the internet is wrong, but you need sleep if you ever want to get home."
Danny sighed and logged out. He'd set up the account shortly after they'd moved into the new house, wanting a way to better keep tabs on public opinion regarding his daughter and her friends. Being that he was the only ordinary person in the household, Mugglicious had seemed like a good name at the time. He looked over at the pretty nurse, his eyes bloodshot. "Shelby, I'm terrified that a lynch mob is going to form after my daughter. The video of what happened to that Changer, Animos, is all over the place."
She sat down beside him, close enough for him to notice in the dark that she had her wheat-brown hair in a bun today. Her tan hand came to rest over his pale one before taking the phone away, setting it on the EKG. "And you're waging a crusade of your own over the message boards?" She clucked her tongue. "Whatever you do there is nothing compared to what Taylor needs. She needs her dad to be there for her. But for that to happen, you have to get better. And worrying yourself sick and staying up all hours isn't exactly conducive to healing."
"I can't just do nothing..." Danny would have shaken his head if his neck didn't still hurt like hell.
"Hate to break it to you but you're doing nothing anyway. You're only hurting yourself trying to solve a problem in the wrong way," she tried to glare down at him but couldn't muster the proper attitude. "You need to take your mind off this for a while."
"Yeah," Danny snarked, "and how the hell'm I supposed to do–"
Shelby silenced him as her lips met his. After a brief, gentle kiss, she left Danny to his thoughts.
Said thoughts were currently nonexistent. The surprise and unexpected happiness had caused his brain to blue-screen. Without his mind occupied, Danny was finally able to drift to sleep.
