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[AI] It begins

The Defenders: A "Just-Us" Society?
by Sally Floyd

Every week brings new challenges to the Post-Cataclysm world we live in but the recent actions of the Defenders have left the public wondering if the team is up for the challenge - and if they think they're above the law. A solid week of questionable actions started with a tantrum by the younger Blue Beetle, usually polite and soft-spoken in his appearances, caught on youtube yelling at a freelance journalist and breaking his camera.

While the incident could perhaps be written off as the actions of a hero under heavy pressure having a rare moment of ill temper, Blue Beetle has regularly been seen working with the joint US-Mexican coalition in the fight against the drug cartels in Juarez and El Paso, is the Young Allies' official liaison chairperson, and has been spotted fighting crises around the world on a daily basis. With the hero balancing such a full plate, it begs the question of whether or not the Defenders are putting undo pressure on already unstable individuals or pushing their younger heroes too heavily into the line of fire. The Defenders are so secretive at times, one must question whether or not the sidekicks that have gone missing from the Young Allies have actually returned to the Crisis like they claim.

This alone wouldn't be that alarming if it weren't for other recent actions by members of the team. According to representatives of The Avengers, the recent appearance of both Hawkeyes was fraught with conflict. After a briefing by hero Iron Man on the state of the world post-Cataclysm, the two heroes reportedly broke a window in Avengers Tower, leaving civilians below at risk of falling glass, and ziplined away from the Tower. The two were immediately accepted onto the Defenders without any public reprimand or comment, despite their reckless actions.

Perhaps most disquieting was the team's recent actions upon the return to Earth of the superhero Nova. According to Avengers representatives the dangerous metahuman, currently a Defender and formerly a New Warrior, was mentally unstable due to a psionic attack by a Starro. While unstable, the hero was responsible for causing property damage at the 8th Street Soup Kitchen due to an uncontrolled release of his powers.

Instead of assisting the Avengers in escorting the hero to a secure HAMMER facility where he could receive care, the Defenders on scene - Justice, Ricochet, Hulkling, and Martian Manhunter - interfered in the Avengers' attempt at securing Nova's surrender. Martian Manhunter reportedly psychically restarted the supercomputer residing in the hero's mind, an act that could have led to an unstable lashing out of his powers. According to the scale used by HAMMER, and formerly SHIELD, to classify planetary threats, Nova registers as a class 12 worldwide threat due to his power levels.

"Nova was clearly not in his right mind after the Starro attack," Norman Osborn stated in a recent press released. "He had already caused some damage to Central Park and damage to the 8th Street Soup Kitchen, who had called in the authorities for assistance. Rather than cooperating with authorities, the Defenders disregarded our attempt to bring Mr. Ryder in for treatment and then made a very risky move with an unknown and powerful piece of alien technology implanted in his head. The outburst of uncontrolled power that could have resulted from their actions was averted only by sheer luck, but one day, that kind of luck will run out, and we've already seen what happens then."

With the specter of Stamford and the actions of other New Warriors still looming in the memories of half the population, one wonders if indeed, the Defenders' luck will hold out. One thing remains clear: apparently the Defenders feel that they only have to operate under their own rules.

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"Joe Pizzuto, Philly Inquirer, how does your jurisdiction tie onto American soil? Especially given your past associations with anti-authoritarian vigilante clubs like the New Warriors."

There was a long pause as Nova blinked at the man, his jaw briefly setting.

Don't touch it. Don't even touch it.

"While on American soil, I operate under the auspices of the Defenders and their government mandate. The only exception is when there are intergalactic criminals on Earth. In those cases, President Luthor signed several jurisdiction and extradition agreements a little while back that allow myself and the Green Lanterns to arrest and extradite when necessary. This mostly applies to aliens and occasionally to humans that have committed crimes on other worlds."

"Lionel Mandus, National Inquisitor. Have you seen Elvis?"

"Yeah, he's happily retired on Lindar Four," Nova said completely deadpan. He shook his head. "He's not coming back. You gotta let it go, man, the guy went home."

That got some quiet chuckling from the assembled reporters.

"Next question?"

"Ben Urich, Daily Planet," said the reporter. Sally Floyd sat next to him - they were sharing the byline today. "You keep dropping oblique mentions of some kind of conflict that happened in space and since you returned to Earth a few years ago, you've demonstrated a marked increase in how powerful you are. What happened up there and is it tied to your increase in power and why you're the last Nova?"

Edited 2015-04-06 03:14 (UTC)

It was not a subject he liked talking about and yet it was one he wanted to give clarification on. No one had asked and he hadn't really wanted to just spout off to the press about it but he just wanted people to...to know.

"A few years back, shortly before the...incident at Stamford I was called up into space by the Nova Corps to face an unknown threat that was pushing in from what they called the Crunch, something that's...well, it's basically the edge of the universe, the part of it that presses into the Negative Zone."

Deep breaths.

"The threat was Annihilus. Some of you might know him as an occasional enemy of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. He was the ruler of the Negative Zone and saw our universe overlapping into the Negative Zone as an incursion of sorts. And he decided he was going to take back that territory by force so he launched a genocidal war against the rest of the universe, where his armies of giant space bugs destroyed everything and everyone in sight. It was kinda Starship Troopers on steroids."

Worse. That was fiction, that was trained soldiers going against the bugs, not civilians. So many civilians...

"Galactic civilization all but collapsed. Billions upon billions of sentient beings died, billions more were displaced, and whole planets disappeared. The Skrulls were devastated, which is partly what lead to the religious extremists among them gaining a foothold and trying to invade Earth to have somewhere to settle. Xandar was all but destroyed while I still was on it. Through a bit of dumb luck, I survived, because I got buried under the crashing spaceport without getting crushed. I was the lone survivor - every other Nova and civilian on the planet was dead. Since I was the last Nova and the Nova Force could only be carried by a Nova, I absorbed Worldmind and the entirety of the Nova Force to keep it out of enemy hands and use it against Annihilus's forces."

And even that wasn't enough, not on its own.

"At one point, Annihilus even figured out how to weaponize Galactus. The Kree, The Galadorian Spaceknights, the former Heralds of Galactus, Negative Zone rebels, some surviving factions of the Skrulls, and a huge spectrum of surviving alien species banded together in one United Front and made war on Annihilus' forces, trying to hold the wave back and keep it from taking anymore civilized worlds. I was the United Front's Commander-in-chief. For a time we managed to stall the Annihilation wave and almost managed to push back but we were outnumbered a few billion to one and eventually we were overcome and were reduced to guerilla tactics. As a last ditch attempt to take out Annihilus, myself and two others made a suicide run to try to take the wave down by taking out the head. With the help of the new Quasar - 'cause the last one was killed by Annihilus early on, even if he came back later - I managed to take Annihilus out before Annihilus' forces reached Earth."

Edited 2015-04-06 03:39 (UTC)

"Pardon me if I sound a tad cynical, but I don't recall you hailing from South America, Nova Prime," said a reporter.

Nova gave the reporter a stare, his eyes narrowed.

"I swear to God if you people start making Starship Troopers jokes around me, I'm gonna go live on the moon."

He narrowed his eyes even more.

"I can do that now."

He rubbed the back of his neck under his helmet.

"Nobody should be making jokes at all, though. Not funny." A pause. "I know it's probably surprising to some people to hear about my part in that, given how much of an idiot and a glory hound I used to be. There was a point in my life where I had this stupid idea in my head that I was like some kinda rookie working my way up, you know? But now? To extend that baseball metaphor a bit, sometimes I feel like I'd give anything to go back to the bush leagues and take that bus right back to Kokomo."

"Sally Fieldstrom, Associated Press. Nova, if this conflict was that large, why didn't we hear about it?"

"I sent a message to Reed Richards to warn the heroes about the Wave. It was all I could manage with the resources I had after the United Forces were defeated. Apparently the message was garbled but rather than looking into it, the heroes were occupied with the conflict that was going on at the time. They were a little too busy to pay attention to the omnicidal maniac threatening all known life in the universe."

Yeah, he was bitter and he wasn't going to hide it. Ever. Even if it made a few of his teammates like Iron Man look bad. He deserved to, for that one, and he wanted to make it clear it'd be different in the future.

"So you can thank the political climate around the Registration Act for that. Since then I've worked out an alert system with the Green Lanterns, and, as a backup, the Kree, to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. That includes warning broadcasts and intelligence briefs that would be sent to the president and other world leaders."

Edited 2015-04-06 04:09 (UTC)

Melissa Dunpole had a question again.

"Nova, Norman Osborn implied Worldmind was responsible for allowing you to control your powers. Does that mean the only thing that prevented another Stamford at Central Park the other day was the alien supercomputer in your head? One that's already been shown to be mentally unstable?"

Freakin' Melissa Dunpole.

But he was ready for this.

"Things have changed when it comes to the balance of power between myself and Worldmind. I call the shots now. And what you saw in the park the other day was Wprldmind pretty much down and out and me still mostly in control of my powers. Was I a little out of it? Yeah? Was I little leaky? Also yeah. But still largely in control. I can control the Nova Force without Worldmind for the most part, she just makes it a hell of a lot easier. Osborn had reason to be cautious and to the credit of his team, they could've easily instigated that into something uglier and they didn't. Iron Boy, or whatever his name is, handled himself very well."

He went on, "But there's such thing as over-caution or over-inflating a threat. I wasn't at risk of exploding and with Martian Manhunter and Justice, we had two exceptionally powerful teke-wielders on hand even if I had been."

"Sally Floyd, Daily Planet. After Worldmind rebooted, why didn't you go with the Avengers voluntarily to get examined?"

Edited 2015-04-06 04:23 (UTC)

He knows who you are, Miss Floyd.

"Largely because of distrust. I had a very bad encounter with Osborn's Thunderbolts back when I first returned to Earth after the war. I was attacked before my 24 hour grace period for registering was up and Iron Man had to call off the attack. At the time, Moonstone stated that the Thunderbolts had greater authority than SHIELD over the situation but Mr. Stark got her to back off and promised a sternly worded phone call to Mr. Osborn."

He went on, "Considering that fight happened in an area teeming with civilians I've been a little...nervous around his teams since. I figured I'd go back with the Defenders since they had the facilities and medical staff to check me out as well. In fact, I'm fairly certain Mr. Osborn doesn't even have any psychics as powerful as J'onn in his employ."

Edited 2015-04-06 04:29 (UTC)

"One might say that you felt you were above the law there, Mr. Rider," Sally went on, before anyone else could get a question in. "What do you have to say to the people that are uncomfortable with the idea of someone as powerful as you ignoring the authority of a government official like Osborn?"

"At that point I was of sound mind and body and capable of making rational decisions and Osborn did not formally state that I was under arrest, which meant I had the right to leave."

He went on, "I did get myself checked out, I just chose to do it with the people that've been responsible for my medical care in the past and who have a direct line to the Green Lanterns. The only person in the universe right now that can even be considered a scientific expert on the Nova Force and the Xandarian Worldmind is a Green Lantern, one of my former Novas, so if something was still wrong, they were the ones with a beeline to who had the best chance of fixing it. Next question."

Edited 2015-04-06 04:34 (UTC)

She did not concede the floor.

"It's just, a lot of people have been unnerved since the Stamford disaster and so far, not once during any of the times you've returned to Earth have you given a statement on that or the registration issue. Don't you think, as a former New Warrior, and someone capable of what you are, that the public deserves to know your thoughts on those issues?"

Edited 2015-04-06 04:36 (UTC)

"I wasn't present that day. That meant I came back from a war and found out half my friends were dead or had been arrested and that they'd made a terrible mistake that cost over 600 lives. So my thoughts on it were...grief for my friends, sadness for the victims and their families, and a whole lotta hate for Nitro. Those last two were the same things a lot of other people felt. What else is there to say?"

That was the normal range of human emotions and all.

"As for the registration issues, ultimately, I was very conflicted on it because even though my secret ID had been compromised by the New Warriors hate site, I knew a lot of people who were afraid their secret IDs being public would get their families killed. But on the same token, I had friends that'd registered and understood why the public wanted accountability. I wasn't sure I wanted to be on the Initiative when they were still hunting unregistered people down so...I left. I checked out and went back to space. I figured I'd come back someday when the conflict had died down a little more and register if it was still the law, but I figured there was a lot of good I could do in space after the Wave, so I focused on that for a while."

"Sixty children are dead and 'you were sad for them.' That's all you have to say?" Floyd went on. "You were a member of the New Warriors and even appeared on the reality show that contributed to the Stamford disaster for a time. Don't you have anything else to say to the American people? Surly, sixty dead children warrants something more than 'I was sad.'"

Edited 2015-04-06 04:46 (UTC)

He was so tired of having this thrown in his face. Over and over and over. Dead kids dead kids dead kids Stamford Stamford Stamford. Like he was supposed to flagellate himself for something he wasn't even there for because he'd been risking his life fighting a war to save everyone asking the damn questions.

"All I can say is that I feel compassion for the victims and their families. I don't know what else is expected of me." A pause and he added honestly. "Although given what I've seen of public opinion, I'd hazard a guess that what people want is for me to flagellate myself and apologize for something I wasn't responsible for. Guilt by association, right?"

He sat forward.

"I was proud of being a New Warrior. I still am at least proud of what good we did do because we saved the world more than once. But I left before that went down. I wasn't comfortable with the producers calling so many shots in our superhero fights and told Thrash I felt like the focus had strayed too much from just doing our damn jobs protecting people."

For once in his life, the spotlight had made him uncomfortable. Justifiably so, apparently. Go figure.

"So when they called me back up to Xandar I went without a second thought." He tapped his own chest. "So if you're expecting guilt and self-recrimination, that's not happening anytime soon. And with this whole thing that keeps happening, people throwing dead kids in my face like I'm not caring enough...Look, I understand the tragedy of it, it's just there's a point in the last few years where I had to stop letting the thought of lost innocents overpower me so I could keep moving forward and do my job."

He leaned forward.

"I even even remember the day. It was when the nursery creches of Xintar 5 got knocked into their sun by the Annihilation Wave, despite the efforts of the United Front and the Xintarian military in trying to stop it. Over the comm lines we could hear the kids screaming and crying in the background of the distress calls by their caretakers. Millions of them. After the creches burned up, we lost half the Xintarians because they started running suicide runs into the sun because they couldn't bear the thought of living without their children."

There was dead silence now to match the quietness of his voice. It was lowered the way his father had always lowered it when he was at his most serious, when he was saying something important.

"If I seem at all aloof or cold about the kids at Stamford it's just that - it's that when you see dead kids by the shipload, if you let it get to you that hard every time, you can't do the job. I have to push past it to do my job and make sure things like that don't happen to kids again if I can ever stop it."

He pointed at her. "I keep getting those questions about the Stamford kids. Constantly. And while I feel for their families, with all due respect, Ms. Floyd, you'll have the right to throw dead kids in my face after you've had to crawl out from under a heap of rubble and the bodies of civilians on a world that died around you. Or when you fly in to save a school and can't tell how many kids used to be there because giant space bugs already reduced them to parts. So."

He sat back.

"That's all I have to say." He added, "Any more questions, Ms. Floyd?"

She was silent in response. Silent and pale.

"That's what I thought."

Nova took advantage of the silence to stand up.

"I'm done for the day. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain a few things. You can direct any other questions to the Defenders' public relations team."

Edited 2015-04-06 05:14 (UTC)

"Nova, wait, I have one last question," Ben Urich cried out. "Just one."

Nova paused, only because of who was talking. He knew his reputation.

"One more."

Just one. That was all he had left today.

He suddenly felt very, very tired.

Edited 2015-04-06 05:15 (UTC)

"How far off was the Annihilation Wave from Earth when you stopped it?" he asked.

Nova drew in a deep breath.

"Three months. If Phyla and I hadn't stopped it there, it would've hit Earth in three months' time. Possibly even less if the guerrilla cells hadn't been able to slow it down on its way."

With that, he took to the air and flew back to the tower, leaving the tower staff to close up shop at the press briefing and pack everything up.

Ben Urich was left standing there as the centurion disappeared into the Tower, his eyes eventually drifting upward to the blue sky above.

For a moment, he wondered how many seemingly unknowable things existed out there in the void.

It only lasted a moment.

"God, I need a drink."

Next to him, Sally just started nodding frantically in agreement as she silently walked away.

Edited 2015-04-06 05:33 (UTC)

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[AI] It begins

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cw: suicide, cw: dead kids

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