Sunday, June 16, 2019

Powers

Some years ago I was offered superpowers on condition I would use them only for good.
"What sort of superpowers?," I asked.
"You will have the strength of three men," they said.
"You know what else has the strength of three men?" I said. "Three men. Not impressed!"
"You will also have super martial arts skills, capable of defeating any non-super-powered human in hand-to-hand combat." 
"Great," I said. "Do you know how many criminals carry guns these days? What about mace or tear gas? Will the powers work if my eyes are swollen shut?"
"Ok, we'll throw in bullet dodging. That's sort of a super martial art anyway." 
"How does that work against a shotgun? or a machine gun? or grenades? I don't want to encourage escalation that's doing to put at risk everyone around me!"
"That's where the flying comes in. You'll be in the air most of the time, not next to innocent people."
 "Flying sounds nice (especially if I don't have to check my stuff through TSA) but do you have any idea how complex the airspace is around Seattle? There's SeaTac Airport, King County Airport, Renton, Everett and the seaplanes taking off from Lake Union. I can't talk to all those control towers AND fight bad guys at the same time!"
"You want radar invisibility too? Is that it???" 
"I'm not sure that's a good idea. I don't want to get run down by a 747 that can't detect me."
"How about the Quick Thinking/Improv superpower? You'll always figure out a way out of a jam."
 "That sounds pretty useful at work, and on Friday nights."
"But you are the Chosen One! You must accept this power to fight crime!" 
"If I wanted to be a cop, I would have gone into Criminal Justice. If I'm going to be a walking, talking bundle of lethal force, don't you think I should have a firm grasp of my legal limits? I'm sure there's a lot of Use Of Force classes I'd have to pick up and I don't have the money."
"We have a payment plan." 
"OK, ok. Let's talk."

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