“Good evening and welcome to this forum, debating the future of Powered in Society. With us tonight are Senator Murphy, one of the authors of the Powered Registration and Recognition-Act, Ms Lopez, a senatorial candidate, running on a platform of reforming the same act, Metis, an Associate Member of the Powered Human Cooperation Guild and last but certainly not least, the shining Star of our American Superheroes, Brightstar.” Mr. Anderson paused for a moment, after gesturing to each of us. “My name is John Anderson, your moderator for this evening. Now, let’s get right into it, with Senator Murphy.”

“Thank you, John and Good evening, everyone.” the Senator stood, first giving a nod to the host before focusing on a nearby camera. “Let me use my opening statement to remind everyone that the current legislation works. Dozens of Powered register every day, all around our nation, demonstrating that common sense and a sense of community exist within our great Nation.” He paused, looking proud before his face portrayed obvious sadness, almost as if a tear would run down his cheek the next moment. It was quite excellent acting.

“Sadly, that registration is a necessity, as Humans aren’t perfect, whether they have Powers or not, but Powers allow a Human who chooses to do evil a far greater range of vile acts. A mundane Human has limits what they can do to another but with Powers, those limits cease to exist. There are those out there, who can use their Powers to read, even alter, the minds of their fellow Humans. We, the People, need to know who has access to Powers and what they can do with them. That is what registration is for.” he finished, his voice projecting strength once more.

“Thank you, Senator. Now, I can see that Ms. Lopez is just about to jump up, so let us give her the stage.” the host responded, as the Senator sat back down. “Ms. Lopez, everyone.”

“Good Evening and Thank you, John.” Ms. Lopez stood, taking the space at the podium. “While there are some things that the Senator mentioned that I agree with, I don’t agree with his conclusions, and I’m not certain how he can talk about evil people and vile actions, given the allegations recently made against him. But that is not why we are here, tonight.`` She turned to the Senator, looking down on him for a moment, before turning back to the audience.

“One thing I do agree with, is that Powers bestow a special responsibility, but not only on those that have them, but also on the society they live in. Putting people on a government list, with their real name attached, does not fulfill that responsibility, what we need is to help our young, those who are gaining those Powers.`` There was a momentary pause, as she took a deep breath,

“We, as a society, need to help them deal with their new responsibilities, we need to guide them and let them grow into responsible members of society. Not by fearing them, or putting their names on a list, but by giving them the education they need to succeed in life. We can’t put that responsibility on a shadowy group, out of the public eye and without public accountability, if we do, we fail as a society. No, we need to educate our children. And for that, we need to establish educational facilities for those young Powered, equipped to help them deal with their individual issues and staffed by dedicated educators. For that, we need the reforms I’m proposing.” she finished, giving the host a friendly nod and smile, before moving back to her seat.

“Thank you, Ms. Lopez. Now that we heard about the special challenges of Powered and their responsibilities, why don’t we let Brightstar illuminate us? Brightstar, if you would?” Addressed by the host, Brighstar stood, a faint glow illuminating her, not quite obvious but subliminal, making her appear larger than life, as she floated forward, taking her place at the podium. I was not fully cognisant of her Powers, but what I saw was excellent showmanship.

“Good Evening, John, it’s wonderful that you could be here, with everyone.” she gave the audience a bright smile, before continuing, “And yes, the challenges of being a Powered. Think back, back to the time when you were young, just going through puberty. A changing body, as you slowly leave behind the innocence of a child and begin to understand the world around you, a world that is sometimes scary, sometimes exciting and wonderful. It’s a wonderful time, but also a scary time, as I’m sure most people would agree.” she shook her head, almost sadly.

“And now, imagine that on top of those issues, those changes you are going through, both of your internal self-perception and image but also of the perception of your surroundings, that you see images in your dreams, or for some nightmares. Wonderous images, scary images, revealing faint images of something more. But those images are not mere dreams, even when you wake, they still haunt you, stuck in your mind until suddenly, maybe during a moment of heightened emotions, those images stop being mere dreams and turn into reality.” She held up her hand, where a ball of glowing light came into existence, softly illuminating the stage around her.

“And suddenly, maybe in a fit of teenage angst, you have done something you didn’t want to happen, maybe you have destroyed something, maybe you have hurt someone. That is the reality of being a Powered. Certainly, it is wonderful to be able to fly through the sky, but try to imagine being a teenager and each time you feel embarrassed or want to hide, you let out a flash of light, blinding everyone around you. Or when you feel angry, beams of radiance burst from your eyes, burning the object of your ire. We can’t let young Powered suffer, because we didn’t give them the help needed to deal with their circumstances. If we do, we only create more victims. Please, stop the suffering.” she asked, her voice a sincere plea, as a soft glow shone from her eyes.

“Thank you, Brightstar. And with the topic now firmly on education, let’s hear Metis, as the Powered Human Cooperation Guild is most certainly in the business of education, all around the globe.” the host addressed me, as Brighstar turned off the light show, making it appear as if the change brought literal darkness. That, coupled with my black costume and slightly scary mask most likely invoked strong associations with evil, as it brought a wry smile to my face. Theatrics, indeed.

“Certainly, Mr. Anderson.” I stood, making my way to the podium, “But first, before I address anything else, I will have to remind everyone that the views I espouse are my own, not those of the Powered Human Cooperation Guild.”

“And with that out of the way, let us talk about reality. Senator Murphy proudly announced that dozens of people register every day. A wonderful number, but how many Powered are there, how many people gain new Powers but never register? Is it justice, to turn those people, people of whom I am an example, into criminals by virtue of their birth? That sounds like the idea of Original Sin, one that I certainly do not ascribe to, nor do I believe in some sort of blood guilt. Nobody should be forced to register, to be put on a list, simply for their birth. There were such lists, in the country of my birth, some hundred years ago. Things did not end well.” I paused for a moment, to let people register my point, before continuing.

“And not only do you want to criminalise the birth of some people, you also lack the tools to enforce those laws, making them even worse as they penalise the honest, incentivising the breaking of those laws. And once the first law is broken, once you are a criminal by virtue of your birth, why would you stop there, if you have Powers that can be taken advantage of?” I rhetorically asked, before shaking my head and continuing.

“No, without tools to reliably detect Powered, which we do not have, Registration is meaningless. A law that cannot be enforced is a bad law but even if there was a way to reliably detect Powered, I do not think that Registration is the answer.”

“Now, on the topic of education, I agree that education is a necessity and I am quite proud of the efforts made by the Guild and believe that the model used is the correct one. To educate everyone, regardless if they have Powers or not, together, letting everyone understand that we all are Human. In my humble opinion, that is the way to eradicate discrimination, not by segregating the Powered away, turnign them into a scary ‘other’ that most people only know from the news.” With that, I finished my remarks and moved back to my seat, without waiting for the host to acknowledge my words.

There was a moment of silence, before the host continued the debate, letting the others bat questions and answers back and forth. I mostly kept silent, only occasionally speaking up when the statistics were too distorted, simply injecting data as needed. I did not see a need to involve me too deeply, while the Senator verbally sparred with Ms. Lopez and Brightstar. The debate continued, without any real points being made, for half an hour, when a break was called, allowing us all to stretch our legs, while the moderator collected questions from the audience, which would be answered after the break.

There was little to do for me, I did not see a need to chat with any of the others, instead opting to open a channel to Anath, quietly getting her feedback as I knew her to be watching. The break was not long and soon, we were back on stage, with the host reminding the audience who we were and what we were discussing.

However, the discussion went off track immediately. Just after coming on stage, Ms. Lopez spoke up, her earlier look at Senator Murphy positively warm, compared to the look of disdain she was giving him now.

“John, I’m afraid I’ll have to speak on this, before we can continue with our debate. It would be a disservice to women everywhere, if I didn’t ask this question and insist on an answer.” she paused, focusing on yet another camera, strategically positioned behind the Senator.

“Senator, there have been rumours regarding your misconduct. Now, there is an official allegation made and I will not remain on stage with you, if you do not address it. Especially as the alleged act took place in this very venue, under the eyes of the Powered Human Cooperation Guild, who claim that they are responsible for keeping us safe, yet they seem to have failed to keep that poor woman safe!” her voice was angry, biting at the end, her glare switching from Senator Murphy to me and back.

“What? Aren’t you responsible for that, Metis?” Brightstar asked, her voice almost overlapping with Senator Murphy’s angry response.

“What are you talking about?!” Senator Murphy retorted, only to be cut off moments later, when I muted all microphones, standing to speak.

“Ms. Lopez, Brightstar, there is something you need to understand. The Guild needs to be neutral in all things, we cannot give preferential treatment to political candidates and even regarding political ideologies, we are supposed to remain neutral, forming a bridge between all Powered and all humans.” Having the only working microphone allowed my voice to easily drown out everyone else, making them fall silent as they simply could not be heard.

“That includes criminals, those you call villains, no matter their nationality or crime, the Guild can take them in and judge them according to our standards. But that neutrality comes in different forms, one of them is, if we see someone acting in a dishonourable way, we remain silent and neutral. That includes Senator Murphy.” I spoke out, Ms. Lopez first displayed a momentary frown, before her look turned gleeful at my words.

“However, there is no need for us to remain silent when accused. Personally, I think the acts taken by you and your husband outweigh the dishonourable acts of Senator Murphy by an order of magnitude but maybe, we should let the public decide.” I finished my words and, the moment I finished, the video compilation regarding the whole event, alongside all documentation regarding the support the Lopez’ had provided to those involved in this matter was displayed on stage, while also being uploaded to the internet.

As everyone got to watch the Senator enjoying himself, I sat back down, observing the ensuing chaos.

The opening remarks were nothing inspired, the moderator simply introducing the various participants in the discussion, with me being introduced as Metis, of the Powered Human Cooperation Guild without adding any additional information. Given that what little reputation I had mostly came from the Greene’s attempts to paint me a villain, I was just fine with being largely unknown. In contrast, the introduction of each of the others was quite a bit longer and allowed a glimpse on their stances regarding Powered in the past, which might inform future behaviour.

In essence, Senator Murphy had worked on the bill that had set the current standard, mandating the so-called common-sense registration of Powered. There was a certain focus on individual rights, as it established discrimination against Powered as a hate-crime but at the same time, it required Powered to be regsitered in a national database for that protection to apply. That database was supposed to hold all Powered, with some villains being involuntarily registered with their alias, and contain biographical information, along their Powerset and weaknesses.

On the other hand, Ms. Lopez wanted to expand the current registration and education for Powered, requiring them to attend specialised schools in order to properly care for their needs. Where the current common-sense registration required to be registered with a Powered’s real identity, her version would allow to register anonymously, not that I really knew how that would work alongside her plan to establish boarding-schools for Powered, similar to the way the Guild provided education for countless people all around the globe.

Finally, Brightstar was not just there as a person, but represented the American Superheroes, who held a position similar to the one held by Ms. Lopez, supporting anonymous registration but also advocating to expand the Future Superheroes into the schools proposed by Ms. Lopez. When thinking about their position, I had a vague idea that they fully supported anonymous registration for their people, but wanted to control the information contained within the database, allowing them to correlate it with other sources and pierce anonymity that way. If not for a core-directive I had given Galatea a long time ago, such correlation would be child’s play for the two of us, allowing us to get the real identity of most Powered, simply by comparing their physical characteristics and movement-patterns. There were some ways to get around that, a full-body costume like my armour for example, but most people would easily be identified that way, especially as time passed.

The introductory remarks of everyone present were quite simple, Senator Murphy positing that the system he had helped design was working and did not need to be altered while stressing the need to keep the public safe from dangerous, criminal Powered who evaded registration.

On the other hand, Ms. Lopez’ opening focused on the need to give the future Powered a chance to grow, to learn how to use their Powers in a safe and stable environment, which her proposed boarding-schools provided. Curiously, she also added a stinging remark regarding Senator Murphy’s suitability to be on stage, referencing the recent allegations against him. In addition, she condemned the Guild as a conspiratorial, un-democratic institution that should be reformed as soon as possible, using the American Superheroes’ as a reference model.

Brightstar’s remarks sounded quite similar to Ms. Lopez, at least when it came to the troubles young people who just came into their Powers had to face. Her heartfelt words, decrying an unfair world in which teenagers had not only to contend with the changes brought by puberty but also with the sudden emergence of an unexplained, sometimes dangerous Power almost managed to bring a tear to my eyes. If nothing else, she was a skilled orator, able to evoke deep emotions within those listening.

Lastly, it was my turn to give my opening remarks and in comparison to theirs, things went a bit off-track. Mostly because I prefaced my remarks with the simple reminder that I could only speak for myself, as an individual. It had been communicated to the participants beforehand that I was not speaking for the Guild, but I had a feeling that they had hoped to skate by, not specifically stating that I was speaking for the Guild and instead simply presenting things as if I were, turning fiction into reality within the eyes of the public. My opening statement destroyed that hope and I could see a flash of annoyance crossing the faces of both politicians. Maybe there was a similar flash on Brightstars face, but her mask hid enough of it to make the determination difficult.

After that disruptive statement, my remarks were quite simple, focusing on the portrayal of Powered as people. While I could accept that the public wished for safety from Powered with dangerous Powers, I stressed the need to remember the maxim of “innocent until proven guilty” and that registration essentially turned every Powered into a suspected criminal. While there was more I wanted to point out, namely the problem of enforcement, as there was no reliable way to detect Powered, outside some of the more extreme physical Power-Sets, but the opening was not the time for that. Neither was it the time to point out that the Guild was not an American institution but supposed to represent Powered from all around the globe, making the idea that it should be held accountable by the American public a little strange.

With my initial statement done, I sat back down, letting the moderator take back over. He posed the initial question, regarding the current state of registration and the enforcement of it, which I had questioned and turned it back to the panel. That resulted in a rather heated exchange between the Senator and Brightstar, the Senator insisting that the current system that incentivised voluntary registration while penalizing those who did not register. However, even he had to admit that there was no objective way to detect Powered. There were a few who had the ability, mostly amongst psychic-Powered but there was no way to base an objective enforcement on the ability of a dozen people, all around the country.

What made me curious was that both, Brightstar and Ms. Lopez insisted that there was a better way to handle registration, though they failed to provide a model for it.

Luckily, the other three were quite content to argue amongst themselves, with me only occasionally inserting myself into their discussion, pointing out objective facts and providing statistics, not that I really cared whom my statements supported. Their discussion focused on national, American issues, which I had only superficial knowledge of and even less interest.

That tactic kept me out of things, until after a short break, Ms. Lopez brought up something from her opening statement, namely the allegations against Senator Murphy. According to her, there was a new development, with the individual naming him speaking out openly and getting into contact with the police. That was not the problem, at least not for me, but when she involved the Guild by claiming that security-measures in this venue, where the alleged assault had taken place, were our responsibility. What brought a frown to my face, though nobody could tell, was that Brightstar joined in, pushing me to the forefront by pointing out that it was part of my duties to interface with security.

I had to consider for a moment, and check in with Technica to make sure I was not acting against established Guild-protocol, when I stood for the first time since giving my opening statements. Before,I had simply remained seated and spoken without any sort of additional fanfare.

“Ms. Lopez, Brightstar, there is something you need to understand. The Guild needs to be neutral in all things, we cannot give preferential treatment to political candidates and even regarding political ideologies, we are supposed to remain neutral, forming a bridge between all Powered and all humans.” I spoke, the microphones of the others conveniently cutting out, letting my voice dominate the room.

“That includes criminals, those you call villains, no matter their nationality or crime, the Guild can take them in and judge them according to our standards. But that neutrality comes in different forms, one of them is, if we see someone acting in a dishonourable way, we remain silent and neutral. That includes Senator Murphy.” I spoke out, Ms. Murphy first displayed a momentary frown, before her look turned gleeful at my words.

“However, there is no need for us to remain silent when accused. Personally, I think the acts taken by you and your husband outweigh the dishonourable acts of Senator Murphy by an order of magnitude but maybe, we should let the public decide.” I finished my words and, the moment I finished, the video compilation regarding the whole event, alongside all documentation regarding the financial aid the Lopez’ had given was displayed on stage, while also being uploaded to the internet.

As everyone got to watch the Senator enjoying himself, I sat back down, observing the ensuing chaos.