maskormenace | VIDEO | ID says Blue Beetle

[Hello, everyone, and welcome to what may well be the Blue Beetle's first - and possibly last - ever video post! He's clearly in uniform, and frankly looks a little inhuman; his red-yellow lenses glow faintly, even though he's posting from a rooftop out in the sunshine, he's conspicuously noseless, and he's covered from head to toe in a blue and black carapace armour. When he speaks, his voice is calm and measured; he's clearly been thinking about this for a long time, and it's something he wants to get out right, even if his speech is a little marred by the fact that he's speaking through a faintly robotic filter.]

Hi, everyone. Um, some of you might know me, even if I don't talk here a whole lot, but just in case -- I'm the Blue Beetle. Not my real name, for the record, but plenty of us superheroes still do the codename thing, even here. But that's not what I'm here to talk about! I wanna talk about powers.

See, as far as I can tell, we all get powers when we get here, unless we already had some back home, and now? Even the people who were born here have them. It's especially hard for people who got dangerous powers. Some people try and use them for good, and other people just try to ignore them, and others try to master them by themselves, but this kind of thing isn't something you should have to tackle by yourself.

Where I'm from, there are a lot of people with powers. We call them metahumans. And sometimes when they try to tackle these things by themselves, it works out just fine! A lot of the time, though? It doesn't. Especially when they go out and use them to try and do a lot of good, and I know that's what people here are doing too. Maybe it seems like it's not a big deal from the outside, but it is. That's how a lot of people wind up dead. [He pauses, just for a moment, and inhales quickly before continuing.] It's how a lot of people I know wound up dead. It's not something to take lightly. I know I didn't have a lot of help - I didn't ask for a lot of help - when I started out, and if I did? Things would have gone a lot smoother.

But I'm not trying to lecture anyone! I know a lot of people here have been doing this for a lot longer than me, [he admits, flashing a quick smile at the screen, teeth white and human behind his mask.] This is just me making an offer. If you're trying to break into what people like me do, or if you're trying to figure out your powers, don't do it alone. If you're not worried about yourself, at least think of other people -- if you've got some strong powers going on, without training, it's really, really easy to hurt other people accidentally. If you guys want help, I'll do that, the best I can. And if I can't, I have a feeling there's a lot of others who'd be willing to help too.

So, um... yeah. I guess that's it! Didn't... really think about how I was going to end this.

[He blinks at the communicator, suddenly awkward before clearing his throat and saying:] Bye!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I think a lot of people try to ignore a problem when it seems overwhelming just because they don't know where to begin. [...] Or shut themselves away, thinking that if there's nothing to elicit it, their power won't have a reason to be dangerous.

[and, well. it's as he says: that's exactly how people die.]

Yeah, exactly.

[Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.]

And it's even more dangerous here because there are so many of us in pretty small towns. There might be metahumans around back home, sure, but they're usually not all together like this. Or if they are, they don't get into danger as much as we seem to.

[She nods.]

It could have rather an exponential effect--well, it does. [She cups her cheek in one hand.] It is quite eventful here, isn't it? Not that our own Earths are without strife, but it seems like we have a crisis a month.

Exactly. And we tend to get roped into it whether we like it or not. So at the very least, we have to be prepared, right? After that, we can decide whether or not we wanna actually use the powers we've been given.

Yes, always better to be prepared for something that doesn't end up happening than caught off-guard by what does. It's as true for superpowers as it is for studying.

[He has to laugh at that.]

But a little more important than studying. Unless you take your academics real seriously.

Oh, but I do! A good education can get you quite far in life, Mr. Beetle.

Hey, I'm not saying it doesn't! But I think this kind of thing is more important. I can live without a college education, but not so much if I broke everything I touched.

That could be a problem, I supposed. Especially if you end up taking any science courses--it would be quite a safety hazard, with all the test tubes.

You're pretty focused on the education thing, huh? I guess you're headed to college as soon as you're able to.

Of course! It takes a lot of study to become a software engineer.

But you know, a college for superheroes might be a good idea. Mr. Brooks says there's one in his world that he attended.

Yeah... except where he's from, superheroes actually get paid. Unless we get paid, that kind of thing probably wouldn't work.

No offense to him and other guys who take payment, 'cause that works for some of them, but I wouldn't wanna get paid. I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it, you know?

Hmmm... yes, I can understand that. It's hard to put into words, but it could feel strange to be saving people for money.

Although firefighters and paramedics get paid too. Not wrong, just a personal sentiment.

Yeah... I dunno, they kind of face different problems, and different protocols. And they have to answer to a heck of a lot more than we do.

[Jaime likes not having a boss.]

They do make a full-time career of it. I'm not sure if I would want to make it my entire life.

And fires and medical emergencies--normal ones--do happen a bit more frequently than supervillains.

Around here, yes. Back home? There's an alarming amount of giant evil robot attacks instead of just one once in a while.

Superheroes have to follow the rules too, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's a good thing for us not to get all involved in politics and junk. When you got a boss, that's what tends to happen.

I can see it now--having to wait until the poll results get in to see which supervillain you pursue!

Yeah, or no, you have to focus on only saving the rich dudes.

[Friggin' rich dudes.]

Nah. I like doing things my way.

Oh dear... yes, I think I would have to make a dramatic gesture if someone said that to me.

I figured you would.

You didn't exactly follow a captain's orders either, did you?

[she shakes her head.]

No, we mostly followed each other. [which tbh they could have done with some closer guidance. and also more honest guidance than they did have.] And none of us would make that kind of suggestion.

So basically you guys were pretty much superheroes yourselves, huh?

[Fuu's expression tightens just slightly. She did tell you what happened, Jaime-san.]

I wouldn't put it quite like that. [...] Although we did have capes.

I seem to remember reports of you on the front line in Russia. That seems pretty heroic to me.

[oh, he's talking about here. she relaxes, but still demurs.]

Ah, well... I thought I was doing what my friends might do, if they'd been sent here instead of me.

Edited 2016-10-30 04:33 (UTC)

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khajidont - 2016-10-31 20:59 (UTC) - Expand

monster_san - 2016-11-01 02:57 (UTC) - Expand