Author's Notes: This chapter is slightly more offensive than usual. Suicide is discussed...a lot.
John Anderton was a non-nonsense perpetually pissed-off young man that worked for the Department of Mental Health in Metropolis. He entered his office and met up with his assistant, Jad Watson. "What's coming?" John asked, knowing there would be someone.
"Suicide: one male. Nura nailed the time frame at 0804 hours. The twins are a little fuzzy on that so we'll need confirmation. The location's still uncertain. Remote cameras are plugged in. This will be case 1108," Jad said matter-of-factly.
John said nothing to that, refusing to acknowledge his colleague's work like a total asshole. He walked over to a video screen where he took a call from Kara and Brainiac 5. "Morning, Your Majesty, Your Honor," he addressed them both. "Case number 1108, previsualized by the Naltorians, single male suicide. Will you please confirm and validate the search warrant?"
"Affirmative," Brainiac 5 permitted.
"Go get'em," Kara smiled enthusiastically.
John eyed the video screen of what Nura was able to see. Since the visuals were unorganized flashes of what was to come, John had to actually do some detective work to determine who and where the suspect was. The computer did a quick facial recognition of the male and identified him as Howard Marks. The computer then quickly located his residence.
"We have a problem with our location. The visuals of their house do not match the housing unit assigned to him," Jad reported.
"He's trying to commit suicide in someone else's house?" John wondered.
"Prince Mon-El is here," Gordon Fletcher, a junior agent informed him.
"Stall him. I don't need some asshole Insane royal interfering with my investigation," John said boldly.
"How do I do that?" Gordon wondered.
"Just get him some coffee," John said frustrated.
"I got coffee. Thanks," Mon said appearing instantly in the room.
"Holy shit. Sorry, Your Highness, I'll have to give you the full tour some other time," John told him.
"Still searching for that house," Jad reported.
"Sir, right now, John is scrubbing the image, searching for clues to what might happen," Gordon told Mon.
"Well...no shit," Mon replied unimpressed.
"When a suicide victim is named by the Naltorians, this device drops a wooden ball, carves said ball with the name, and then drops it here," Gordon said to Mon.
"As opposed to just putting it on the computer screen?" Mon asked incredulously.
"Computers can be hacked and we like to keep a collection of balls of all the people we've saved-slash-committed," Gordon explained.
"Fair enough," Mon allowed. He eyed the three Naltorians lying in a pool in sexy swimsuits as they visually predicted suicide events. "So hot." Mon then turned back to Gordon. "If the Naltorians can predict a suicide four days out, why do we have this fuck-up?" Mon asked Gordon.
"That's only the case with premeditated suicide. What we have here is one of sudden passion so it shows up late," Gordon said.
"People are hiding their suicidal ideations better from us. They've gotten the message," Mon realized.
"This would be a lot easier if housing units were not exactly the same worldwide," Jad remarked.
"It's a park," John realized as he zoomed in on the image of a child in the background circling around very quickly. "There are sixteen parks in the city. Have the MPD move on all of them," he ordered.
John then started accessing hidden cameras in every single housing unit around the parks. As he quickly went through them, he finally found Howard Marks. "There," he said and then inputted the housing unit to the MPD.
John was quickly on the scene with the MPD. He unlocked the door with a card and then rushed into the house. Upon reaching the second floor, he fired a stun-shot at Howard dropping him while the MPD crashed through the ceiling windows. John scanned Howard's eyes to get identification on him while the MPD arrested Howard. "Mr. Marks, by mandate of the Metropolis Department of Mental Health, I'm placing you under arrest for the future suicide of yourself that was to take place today at 0804."
"No, I didn't do anything," Howard protested.
"Yeah, bullshit. Give him his hat," John said to an MPD officer.
"No, anything but that," Howard shouted as the mental inhibitor was put on his head.
At the Department of Mental Health, Mon eyed Nura struggling with her dream. He eyed the video screen of Howard's really fucked-up suicide with blood all over the place in a grisly scene. "Don't do it," Nura said repeatedly, half-asleep.
"Sup with this?" Mon asked Jad.
"That's a Naltorian Deja vu. Sometimes, they replay a suicide on loop for an hour or so," Jad explained.
"That's brutal," Mon remarked.
Nura then settled down and went back to sleep.
Kara addressed a large crowd on the issue of suicide awareness. Around her were carefully selected shills for the program, men, women, and children who had a suicide victim within their family. "I lost my best friend, I lost my aunt, I lost my dad, I lost my father, I lost my wife," the civilians said one-after-another.
"Thank you," Kara said sympathetically to them all. "Six months ago, the suicide rate reached epidemic proportions. No matter how many resources we put into mental health, no matter how many suicide awareness programs we initiated in the workplace, no matter how we improved the quality of life around here or threatened people with eternal damnation, it just didn't change anything."
"It seemed that only a miracle could stop the bloodshed. So, I have given you a miracle in the form of Naltorian volunteers. Within just one month, the suicide rate was reduced by 90%. Suicide has been effectively stopped in the global capital. You can be certain in the infallibility of the system and to ensure what keeps us safe...from ourselves...will also keep us free."
"It works," all the shills gathered around Kara said at once.
"Okay, we got it," Kara said after a good thirty seconds of "It works" from her shills. "Soon, I'll be implementing this program globally for the good of all."
At his housing unit, John held the rank of captain, a commissioned officer. Still, he was a mess. In the ultimate irony, he, himself, was suicidal. He had lost his young son to a murder/suicide by his wife. He lived alone, was addicted to drugs, and was barely feeding himself even with access to resources on demand. He would play videos of his son on a hologram emitter every night. He had practically memorized his home videos.
"Will I be as fast as you someday?" his son asked.
"Oh, I think you'll beat me someday," John replied. "I think you'll beat everyone someday."
"I gotta go, bye," his son said adorably.
"I love you," John said to his hologram son.
"I love you, too, Daddy," his son replied and then disappeared.
John began to cry, a broken man. Unable to deal with the pain, he got high.
The next morning, John went back to work taking a horrifyingly vertical highway that utilized magnetic cars. Cars would go up and down buildings and a towering traffic circle that put traffic far above the ground so cars could enter parking lots inside the buildings as opposed to on the ground floor where pedestrians walked. John entered the Department of Mental Health and met up with Kara.
"Look, Prince Mon wants to shut this whole thing down because he wants to see the world burn. He's an asshole like that. I'd kill his ass but he's been useful to me. So, just suffer his presence. He'll move on eventually," Kara said to John.
"I understand, Your Majesty," John replied.
"Watch his ass. You can let him look around, and answer his questions, but watch him. If he gives you any shit, let me know," Kara said to him.
"I understand," John nodded.
Mon was already interrogating John's associates. "Let's not kid ourselves, gentlemen, we're saving people that want to die. Why the fuck are we preventing this?"
"The Naltorians can see the future and they're never wrong," Gordon said defensively.
"Yeah, but why should I give a shit?" Mon asked confused.
"Surely...every man and woman should be allowed a noble honorable Insane death...no?" John asked as he entered the room.
Mon smirked at him. "Ever get any false positives? Someone has thoughts of killing themselves but doesn't go through with it? How do the Naltornians know the difference?"
"The Naltorians don't see what you intend to do, only what you will do," John corrected.
"Why just suicide?" Mon asked. "What about rape, theft, murder?"
"Royal prerogative," John stared him down.
"Which royal?" Mon challenged.
"Queen Kara," John answered. "She developed this technology with the Naltorians, designed the system, and pioneered the interface."
"I'd love to say hello to these infallible Naltorians," Mon said as he looked out the window.
"No one goes inside the temple but Naltorians. It prevents accusations of human tampering," John said.
"Well, I'm not human," Mon said obviously.
"Maybe you didn't understand the principle," John said condescendingly.
"If it's a matter of authority...," Mon said.
"You don't have any," John said boldly.
"I have balls of steel that say differently," Mon told him.
"Show them to me," John replied, still sitting casually in his chair.
Mon smirked at John's boldness and then created an energy sphere on his hand. "I am Prince Mon-El and if you value the lives of your men, you'll submit to my supervision and authority."
John eyed his men and then back to Mon. "Alright."
Mon entered the temple despite the computer informing him he wasn't clear for access. John and his men followed closely behind. "Wally, this is Prince Mon-El. We're giving him the run of the farm," John informed a male Naltorian.
"This is fucked up. I wasn't given assurances by Kara this would never happen," Wally said distressed. "Don't touch anything," he said to Mon.
"Just answer his questions so we can all get the hell out of here," John downplayed.
"Tell me how this works," Mon ordered.
"The milk acts as both a nutrient supply and a liquid conductor. It enhances the images that each of them receives. Their names are Nura, Arthur, and Dashiell. We scan by optic tomography. In other words, we see what they see," Wally explained. "Their hormones are carefully controlled. We can't have them going into too deep sleep or too awake."
"We have to remind ourselves that they're not human," John remarked.
"No, they're much more than that," Mon insulted. "Do you consider them gods?"
"They're aliens with a genetically explained precognition ability," John corrected.
"And yet, you call this place the temple," Mon pointed out.
"Just a nickname meant to be ironic," John shot back.
"They say the power lies in the priests, not the oracle. I've destroyed so many civilizations and every single one of them had an oracle of some kind, but they never predicted me," Mon said dangerously.
"Naltorians have proven themselves," John replied. He then turned to his men. "Go back to work."
Mon then walked up to John as the others left the room. "To lose your son to a murder-suicide in public no less. One might think you're...compromised."
"Cut the shit. What do you want?" John asked.
"Flaws," Mon said simply.
"There's been no suicides in Metropolis in six months. There's nothing wrong with the system," John said defensively.
"The flaw is preventing them at all. It's part of evolution, natural selection, Darwin's Law," Mon antagonized. "Just let them die. Fuck'em." He then walked off leaving John troubled and dumbfounded.
John then eyed the pool and snapped his fingers a few times to see if he could get a reaction out of the three. Nura suddenly awoke and grabbed him. "Can you see?" she asked him.
John looked up and saw flashes of a blond woman drowning in a lake on the video screen above them. Nura then let go of John and went back to sleep. "Well...that was weird," John noted.
At the palace, John had a meeting with Kara. "I hope Mon wasn't too hard on your guys. He's sometimes an asshole," Kara said apologetically.
"Sometimes?" John questioned.
"What did he do this time?" Kara rolled her eyes.
"Threatened to kill my men if he wasn't allowed in the temple and then mocked the death of my son," John summarized.
Kara whistled at that. "He's just doing it to piss you off, knock you off-balance, get a rise out of you. He doesn't mean it...probably...maybe," Kara said sympathetically.
"He nearly compromised the system," John said seriously.
"Message received. Anything else?" Kara asked.
"I looked in the archives and I found a precog vision of you in a lake. It was rather fuzzy and inconclusive," John said.
"So?" Kara wondered.
"The precog vision from Nura is missing," John reported.
"Well, I can't drown, obviously. Sometimes, the precogs will have visions of things from the future or the past that have nothing to do with our mission," Kara said dismissively.
"Mon is expected to take a tour of the containment cells," John brought up.
"Give him the tour," Kara allowed. "John, you look shook up, nervous. Something wrong?"
"I'm fine," John assured her.
"I'm going to make this system go global and no one is going to stop me. You know, my adopted father once told me that we don't choose beliefs, they choose us. There's a reason you're here on this Earth, John. Had I instrumented this system six months earlier, what happened with your wife and son could have been prevented. The eyes of the world are on us, right now. Now, people don't trust me for reasons I can't fathom but they trust you, John. When you speak of your absolute belief in this, they know it comes from pain rather than politics. I always understood this and I may have even encouraged it to help with the cause. Just don't let your pain destroy what we have built," Kara said to him.
"I understand," John assured her.
At the Department of Mental Health, John was back at it. While playing classical music, visions of a skyscraper came into focus. The visions then identified a room number in the apartment complex. "Elderly female smoking...crack. She's laughing," John said and then moved onto the room in question. "Two figures in a room," John said as he continued to analyze the vision.
He then saw himself on the video screen. "Goodbye, world," he said and then shot himself in the head. "Wait...what?" he wondered.
"Did you say something, Sir?" Jad asked.
John quickly minimized the video off the screen. A wooden ball then came down the chute. "I got this one, Jad," he said to prevent him from seeing the name. "Jad, go downstairs, and get me some cake," he ordered.
"Sure, Chief," Jad said and then took off.
John eyed the wooden ball with his name on it. He began to frantically analyze all the videos but it all came to the same conclusion. Realizing he was in deep shit, John fled the office and went to the elevator. As he did, Mon intercepted him. "You're in a lot of trouble, John."
"You set me up," John accused.
"Is your paranoia natural or is it due to all the drugs you're using every night?" Mon mocked. "It seems I found a flaw."
John immediately put a pistol to his throat. "The fuck is that going to do?" Mon rolled his eyes.
"You're allergic to lead, asshole," John said to him.
"That's actually false. I let that rumor spread like wildfire so people would attempt to kill me and then I could beat their ass," Mon revealed. "Now, put down the gun before I bust your balls."
John withdrew from Mon and then exited the elevator as the alarms went off. Mon let John escape so he could enjoy the chase.
At the palace, Kara got a call from a frantic John. "What's happening?" Kara asked alarmed.
"Mon set me up. I'm supposed to kill myself in thirty-six hours and I have no idea why," John said freaked out.
"How could Mon have your case file? He can't even open a regular file without help," Kara asked him.
"Can you fake a cerebral output?" John asked.
"Probably...not," Kara guessed. "Look, come in. I'll keep you safe until we get to the bottom of this. Just come to my palace. You can't run from this."
"Everybody runs," John muttered and then signed off.
"Well...shit," Kara sighed.
On the freeway, John went rogue as he got on top of his car's roof. Unfortunately, he did so right as the car went straight verticle down a building. With his suicide predicted by gunshot, John figured he was immortal and began jumping from his car to another car on the freeway while extremely high in the air. John jumped into a building office on his ass in such a way that he looked all contorted up. Ironically, he was in a contortionist Yoga studio.
"What the fuck?" John wondered.
At the palace, Gordon was before Kara. "I'll bring him in unharmed," he promised her.
"Actually, I'm taking over the team," Mon said as he entered.
"Gordon is second in command. If you want to observe, do it," Kara told him off. "Find him," she ordered Gordon off.
"He came to see you yesterday before he got tagged. What did you talk about?" Mon asked.
"The Mets," Kara lied. "John doesn't think they have a deep-enough pitching roster and I'm inclined to agree."
"Don't bullshit me. He's doping," Mon accused.
"He lost a child six months ago, for Christ's sake," Kara pointed out.
"Which makes him even less fit," Mon pointed out. "What did you two talk about?"
"None of your damn business," Kara shut him down.
"This is clearly in my Insane jurisdiction. He's my prey now," Mon told her.
"He's my subordinate," Kara countered.
"Perhaps I should visit Naltor and tell them how you've been using and abusing their people," Mon threatened.
"Look, asshole, I don't want John hurt," Kara insisted.
"I'm going to enjoy this hunt," Mon smiled and then walked off.
"Such an asshole," Kara sighed once he was gone.
John entered a mall and then a busy metro station. As he did, his eyes were scanned by automated cameras everywhere alerting Mon to his location. John was now already on digital news articles as a fugitive. Once John left the train, Gordon and the Department of Mental Health cops were already onto him. John attempted to escape down the alleys only to be surrounded by Gordon and his men on jetpacks.
"Hey, Gordon," John said dryly.
"Hey, John. Don't do this. Don't kill yourself. John, don't run," Gordon told him.
"You don't have to chase me," John replied.
"You don't have to run. We'll get you the help you need," Gordon offered.
"Everyone runs, Gordon," John pointed out.
"You know we'll catch you," Gordon countered. "It doesn't have to be like this, John. We'll get you some counseling, some medication, and a nice vacation."
The Department of Mental Health cops extended batons to beat John into submission. Backed against a wall, John suddenly grabbed a baton from one of the cops and pointed it at his neck causing him to vomit instantly. He then climbed up the fire escape ladder. The Mental Health cops followed him up the ladder with their jet packs. John punched and kicked them aside while deactivating their gear like a pro.
Still believing himself to be immortal, John jumped and took hold of Gordon. The two flew erratically on Gordon's jetpack in the alley and then slammed into a building. The two wrecked one apartment, went through the ceiling, and wrecked a second apartment before crashing into a third apartment. "I'm placing you under arrest for your future suicide," Gordon said deliriously.
"Fuck off," John said to him and then walked off like a boss.
John exited the apartment complex only to be slammed to the ground by Mon. John quickly recovered and ran off with Mon giving chase. The two entered an automated car factory. Mon looked around, slightly distracted by all the noise from the machines. Upon seeing John run off, Mon fired a shockwave blast at him sending barrel containers flying. Mon fired shockwave blasts several more times in John's general direction to knock him down. He then saw John in the air hanging onto a piece of machinery on the ceiling. Mon flew up to where he was and gave John a beat down. Still believing himself immortal, John fought Mon back. None of his punches made any impact on the Insane prince. John then leaped off the platform into the middle of the working machines. Mon followed him down and they continued their fight even as machines worked around them.
Mon withdrew as the assembly line boxed John in and essentially turned him into a car. Mon eyed the machines as they continued working on the cars believing that John must be surely dead. However, John miraculously survived and ended up in the front seat of a new car. Impressed, Mon allowed John to escape in the new car out into the countryside.
In the middle of nowhere, John found a cottage where he suspected he could get some answers. He entered a greenhouse where an older woman was tending to her garden. "Kiwi Nal?" John presumed.
"You're trespassing, human," Kiwi scolded. She fired off energy cables that went around John's neck strangling him. He dropped to the floor as he suffocated. "This just isn't your week, Chief Anderton," Kiwi noticed as she saw his future.
"I'm not suicidal," John gasped.
Kiwi released him and then made them some tea. "So...how can I help you?" she asked amused.
"How can someone fake a prevision?" John asked.
"How would I know that?" Kiwi asked coyly.
"You're Naltorian. It's your ability," John said.
"An ability created by the unintended consequences of a series of genetic mistakes and science gone haywire over several thousand years," Kiwi mused.
"You don't seem too proud of it," John noted.
"I'm not. You can't be proud of something you're born with, only what you do with it," Kiwi replied. "Everyone thinks precognition is a gift. They haven't seen what it does to people like us. We wake up in the middle of the night screaming, clawing at the walls, and dreaming of death over and over again. Then, you realize these nightmares are about to come true. But it doesn't matter. Kara has devised the perfect system now."
"I'm not going to commit suicide," John said adamantly.
"And yet, the chain of events has started, leading inexorably towards your self-destruction," Kiwi doubted.
"Not if I stay away from the building and throw away my gun," John countered.
"But you won't because the alternative is the police taking you away for suicidal ideations. You want to clear your name and that same motivation is going to get yourself killed. The precogs are never wrong," Kiwi told him.
"What about the minority report?" John questioned.
"Most of the time, the precogs will see the same vision but occasionally one will see it a different way than the other two. In order to ensure the infallibility of the system, the minority report is shortly thereafter destroyed. The justice system has thousands of people locked away in simulators to treat them for suicide. A minority report throws doubt into the whole system," Kiwi said.
"Are you saying I committed innocent people?" John asked shocked and appalled.
"I'm saying that every so often those accused of suicidal ideations might, just might, have an alternative future," Kiwi said.
"Does Kara know about this? These alternate futures?" John asked accusingly.
"Obviously," Kiwi nodded. "But at the time, we both felt these minority reports were an insignificant variable."
"Insignificant to you maybe but what about all the people I committed that had alternate futures?" John asked passionately. "My God, if the world knew there was a chance, the system would collapse. I believe in the system."
"Oh, really? Go kill yourself exactly as predicted and you'll preserve the system," Kiwi said sarcastically.
"Yeah, maybe I will," John considered.
"I wasn't being serious," Kiwi said alarmed.
"I'm a dead man walking. I have been ever since my wife and son died. For the last several months, I thought I was doing good as a cog in the system. Now, the system, for its survival, requires my death," John said somberly. "Thank you for the tea."
Kiwi eyed John with wonder as he strolled out. "Holy shit," she realized.
Metropolis
Mon, on the other hand, was determined to bring the system down by killing John's ass before he could kill himself as predicted. "Here's where we're at: There are two men in the room, John, and this asshole with the sunglasses. Now, there are thousands of buildings like this one. I can't make out the location," Gordon said.
"Well, at least we have twenty-two hours to figure it out," Mon said dismissively and then sat at John's old desk.
"Excuse me, this is Chief Anderton's space," a random female agent protested. "You can't sit in his space."
"I'm actually a fucking big deal," Mon told her off.
"Casey, it's okay," Jad assured her. "He's not here right now."
"But he'll be back," Casey objected.
"I doubt that," Mon rolled his eyes. Jad then took Casey away for her own safety from Mon. "John will likely be in the sprawl but he's not dumb enough to make any financial transactions or go where cameras will likely find him."
"Why wouldn't he just run?" Gordon asked.
"The poor bastard thinks he's innocent," Mon shrugged.
Several hours later, John had avoided detection. MPD and Mental Health cops searched and scanned the city for any sign of John. Robotic spiders were sent out into the sprawl to try to ID him without success. As Mon waited impatiently, he eyed the recording again. "Wait, that's a fucking billboard," Mon realized as he scanned the asshole wearing sunglasses.
"Oh, yeah," Gordon confirmed.
"And who is this chick?" Mon asked as he eyed a woman in a corner of the room.
"It's Nura," Gordon realized.
"Why didn't we see her before?" Mon questioned.
"Maybe the future has been changed," Gordon suggested.
"Fuck me," Mon realized.
Nura suddenly woke up, waded around in the pool, activated the flush mechanism, and went down a pipe out of the building. "Did that just happen?" Mon asked incredulously. "Find that room," he ordered the others.
At a shopping mart, John kept his sunglasses on as he looked for new clothes. Nura intercepted him there and pulled him aside, still wearing her all-white milk-drenched uniform. "What are doing here?" John questioned, looking around anxiously.
"There's something I want you to see," Nura told him. "Come with me."
After getting new clothes, John was in an all-black outfit while Nura was in a different all-white uniform. She created an astral projection around John so the scanners wouldn't be able to detect him. He looked as if his face was fucked-up to all those around him. She led them inside a simulator arcade room where people worked out their fantasies in private rooms.
Entering a private room, Nura created a portal where they could enter the dream world. There, John saw himself shooting himself in the head in the apartment. "Where's my minority report?" John questioned.
"There is none," Nura told him. "Now, watch this."
John then saw Kara in the lake sinking to the bottom. "Why am I seeing this?" John then saw a Kryptonite bracelet around Kara's wrist as she was drowning. "What the fuck?"
The vision went backward in time as it showed Kara walking into the lake with the Kryptonite bracelet to willfully kill herself. "Is this the past, the future? What is this?" John asked confused.
"It was the first precog before the system came online," Nura explained.
"Kara wanted to kill herself? What? Why?" John asked stunned.
"Yeah, very sad," Nura remarked.
"You're telling me Kara designed a system to involuntarily commit people with suicidal ideations while she, herself, was suicidal?" John asked wide-eyed.
"I used to be surprised by Kara's hypocrisy but not anymore," Nura rolled her eyes.
"Why are you helping me?" John asked.
"This assignment was only supposed to be several weeks tops but she kept extending it. Do you think I like sleeping all day and night in milk juice dreaming about humans killing themselves in gruesome exotic ways?" Nura asked. "She fucked me over and now I'm going to fuck her over."
"How can I trust you?" John asked skeptically.
"The Mental Health cops are here. I would go if I were you," Nura told him.
John and Nura exited the simulator arcade room as the Mental Health cops stormed in and started interrogating every client. They entered a mall to avoid detection. "Get yourself an umbrella," Nura ordered.
John complied and followed her instructions. "That man's briefcase is going to open showing your face. Look away," Nura told him. "That woman knows your face," she warned him. "Turn here."
"Wait for the balloon man," Nura ordered as they were in the middle of the mall. John looked around anxiously as Mental Health cops were almost on him. The balloons ended up obscuring the vision of the Mental Health cops on the second floor at exactly the right moment. The frustrated Mental Health cops then scattered in all directions.
The two entered a back-door corridor and encountered a bum. "Please help me," he requested of them.
"Give him some gum," Nura ordered.
John dropped the gum next to the bum. "Couldn't you put in my hand?" the bum complained.
Shortly thereafter, the Mental Health cops ran through the door and tumbled over the bum as he went for the gum. John and Nura went outside where they opened the umbrella. With everyone opening umbrellas, the Mental Health cops couldn't decipher them. "God damn it," Gordan said pissed off.
It was then that John realized the asshole with the sunglasses was merely a billboard. With this information, John knew the apartment complex where he was to kill himself. He entered the apartment complex and went to the clerk. "I need records of everyone in the building," he ordered.
"Fine, whatever," the clerk said and gave him the names.
John found a vacant room high enough where the billboard would be seen out the window. "Walk away, John," Nura advised.
"I have to see this through," John told her.
The two came to the appropriate floor. John couldn't open the door without a key, so he kicked it open. There, he could clearly see the billboard out the window. He also noticed that the room number was the exact one as in the precog vision. John got into position and looked at his watch. "Just go home, John," Nura told him.
"You said so yourself. There is no minority report. There is no alternate future. I am going to kill myself here," John said resolved.
"You still have a choice," Nura told him.
"If I don't kill myself, precog is a lie and the whole system goes down," John reminded her.
"No system is ever completely perfect. Innocent people get fines, and prison sentences, and are executed all the time. It has never destroyed the system," Nura told him.
"Precog is new, experimental. If we go back to the old ways, many will die. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one," John told her. "I have to do this."
John chambered a round in his pistol, took the safety off, and pointed it at his head. He waited for his watch to countdown to the final second. "Goodbye, world," he said and then pulled the trigger. The bullet exited the barrel, was caught in a forcefield, and stopped before reaching John's head. The forcefield then expanded around the pistol and then disassembled it.
"What have you done?" John asked stunned.
"Saving your life, asshole," Nura told him. "When Kara tried to kill herself, Barney saved her. She survived the attempt. Just because the vision shows you killing yourself doesn't mean someone outside the vision can't save you."
John gave her a doubtful look. The Mental Health cops suddenly barged into the room and tackled John to the floor. He was arrested and taken away.
After John was committed, Mon met up with Kara at the palace. "What do you got?" Kara asked as he came in.
Mon showed her the video of Kara in the lake. "Arthur and Dashiell recorded this."
"It's the same prevision," Kara said dismissively. "I went for a swim. That's all."
"Not quite. The ripples are moving the other way with Nura's recordings. That means there are two different previsions of you in the lake. This prevision was recorded by John from Nura's mind at the simulator arcade just before he was tagged. The original prevision recorded by Nura was erased. Now, who would have wanted to erase Nura's recording?" Mon asked.
"Mon, I'm tired of your bullshit. Just spit it out," Kara asked impatiently.
Mon showed the full video of Nura's recording showing the Kryptonite bracelet. "You went for a swim without the bracelet. Then, you did it again with the Krytponite bracelet. Somehow, you survived and then erased the record so no one saw it."
"Why would I go to the trouble of faking my suicide?" Kara rolled her eyes.
"Because you want to do suicidal actions without getting caught. You enjoy the thrill of it, the mortality of it. One of these days, you're going to fuck up and no one will be there to rescue you," Mon said angrily. "It's you who should be committed."
"That's rich coming from an Insane," Kara glared.
"It wasn't my idea to use Naltorian precogs to prevent and commit suicidal people," Mon pointed out.
"Yes, you would just let them all die and let God sort it out. This system I built has saved lives and no amount of hypocrisy on my part is going to change that fact," Kara stood up to him. "You know why I only programmed the system for suicide and not murder? So, no one would see this."
Kara fired heat vision through Mon's chest, dropping him. Kara walked over to him and snapped her fingers knocking him out cold.
At the ball, Kara was dressed in black as she greeted distinguished guests. "Ladies and gentlemen, Her Royal Highness, Queen Kara," the Metropolis mayor introduced.
"Ladies and gentlemen, precog will soon go globally. We will soon look forward to a time when all suicides are prevented, and where all those suffering from suicidal ideations are treated. Now, enjoy yourselves. That's an order," Kara told all the attendees.
The attendees gave Kara a grand applause. She then got a phone call from her earpiece. "This better be an emergency," Kara said annoyed as she received it.
"Hello, Kara. I just wanted to congratulate you. You did it. You created a world without suicide," John said on the other end. Kara mouthed WTF but kept her cool.
"Your Royal Highness, can you sign these hats for us?" one fan asked of her.
Kara ignored the fans and continued with the phone call. "What are you on about?"
"You used and abused Nura to accomplish this vision. And without Nura, there was no precog. She's always been the strongest of the three. You knew without Nura you had nothing. Without her, the system crashes," John accused.
"What do you want, asshole?" Kara asked impatiently.
The video screen behind the stage and podium showed Kara in the lake. This time, it was Nura's vision. Kara was clearly seen drowning in the lake with the Kryptonite bracelet on. John's work buddies had managed to free him and then submitted the recording from his office into the video screen at the ball to embarrass Kara in retaliation.
Kara exited the ball and went outside where she found John dressed in a black hoodie waiting for her. "Think about all the lives we have saved. Think about how we could have saved your son, Sean."
"You brainwashed me into thinking precog would save the world, so much so that I was willing to die for it. But you're the biggest hypocrite of all," John accused.
"So fucking what?" Kara asked him.
"Kara, it's over," John told her as she reached the balcony. "So, what are you going to do now? You see the dilemma, right? If the precogs are right, you tried to kill yourself destroying your reputation. If the precogs were wrong, then the whole system crashes."
"There was a reason why I only programmed the system for suicide and not murder. With murder, you could have exposed me countless times and I would have to answer for every single person I've killed justified or not. But with suicide...no one sees that as murder. In fact, people are even more sympathetic to you after you've tried it. Even if you go through with it completely, people still see you as the victim," Kara revealed.
"So, I can save lives and be a hypocrite at the same time, because I'm the victim. I'm not punishing those we've committed. We're saving them, treating them," Kara told him.
"Then, you should be committed just as they are," John replied.
"You're of the illusion that my hypocrisy makes any difference to my hold on power. I have absolute power so no amount of hypocrisy or corruption will ever take me down. If I actually feared for my life, my reputation, my hold on power, I'd kill your ass right here and now," Kara told him. "This conversation between us could be revealed to the public and it still wouldn't change a damn thing."
"Well...fuck me," John realized.
"I'm going to...promote you, reassign you to the countryside with a new profession, and get you some rehab. I'm also going to help you to extract more of your memories so you can have many more home videos of your son. Whatever you need, I'll give you," Kara said generously.
"And Nura?" John questioned.
Kara rolled her eyes at that. "I'll reassign her as well and give another Naltorian replacement. The system will never be as good as it was before but it will still save some lives. I'll have a better rotation of Naltorians, maybe even teach humans to precog."
"That sounds like a good deal," John nodded.
"It's a damn good deal," Kara agreed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to bullshit my way through this PR disaster you've so graciously given me," she said and then turned back to the ball.
Author's Notes: I think leadership strategy changes quite a bit when the leader is completely invulnerable. A lot of human leaders do strange and immoral things due to their mortality. All leaders are just men that can be easily destroyed so there's a constant fear of being exposed, fear of being imprisoned, fear of losing power, fear of being killed. And that fear creates a different leadership style than someone that has no fear. Philosophically, Kara may have good intent with immoral consequences whereas Mon may have evil intent with moral consequences in this example. It also depends on how you see this issue and how to prevent it.