Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @lukaspope

"Injury transfer? OK, that's a start, but what exactly do you do? It helps to know the details, after all, the Heroes in the Program fulfil a variety of different roles, they aren't all on the front lines."

He held up a hand and allowed a blue spark to travel lazily from finger to finger. "I'm an electrokine, which means I can manipulate electricity, fire lightning bolts, super charge a punch and so on. Effectively I'm a human taser. I don't really use it, but it's what I can do."

The next question was a little more difficult. "Well originally you had to be invited. Hero work is dangerous, and the only reason we haven't suffered mass casualties is the calibre of metahumans we recruit. They are well trained and usually very difficult to hurt. Recently though, we have begun extending an application process. Lots of people haven't revealed their abilities, which makes it hard for us to invite them. We don't want to deny those people, or people like yourself the chance to join."

He leaned back thoughtfully, "It would require a full ability analysis though, the MNRU will have done a more basic one, but the Program's is rather more thorough. We have to know what we're getting after all.

"As to someone like you. Well, if your power can really heal people, then we can certainly find a place for you. Good healers seem to be rare unfortunately."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @lukaspope

Dominic was busy today, he was busy every day, but today was particularly busy. An attack by so-called human supremacists had injured six people, and a Hero had been called to the scene when one of them had produced an assault rifle. Fortunately, the Hero hadn't killed anyone, although judging by the reports Dominic wouldn't have blamed the man if he had.

It still required an official statement from the Hero Program, and somehow these things still found their way back to him. The Program was Federal, it spanned all fifty states and two districts of the United States, and each office had someone responsible for PR, yet things like this kept getting directed to his office. It was as if they thought he didn't have a company of his own to run. Although to be fair the Program was now his biggest client, even discounting his official position within it.

On top of that emergency situation, amongst others, he had a meeting booked with an individual that could be a possible recruit for the Program. He'd glanced over his file, and the man had seemed like a perfect candidate. A Police Officer, with an exemplary record. What could be better for what was essentially a glorified cop anyway?

He rattled off a few necessary emails, made a phone call that couldn't wait, and then finally was informed by Gregory that a Mr Pope was here for an appointment.

"Go ahead and show him in Gregory, I'm as ready as I'll be today."

He walked around the desk in time to greet Lukas, extending a hand and a broad, genuine smile as he did so.

"Mr Pope, a pleasure to meet you."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @lizevander

"They're not the wrong questions, you're just asking the wrong person. I have a lot of influence in the Program, but I don't run it, and you wouldn't be the first person to ascribe a lot more power to me than I actually have."

He nodded at her next comment, although it was more of a statement than a question, "Nightshade and Onyx, yes. Both good Heroes."

He nodded again, calling them underdogs was perhaps a little dramatic. Heroes weren't selected unless they had potent metahuman abilities, there was too much risk otherwise. Not that those Heroes weren't taking on just as many risk because they were more powerful. There were Heroes that had a smaller following though, or less than glowing reviews from the local press.

"I know you have, I have read several of your articles. They're good, though I'd love to know how you managed to pin down Hellhound. I think you're the only reporter who has pulled that one off. He doesn't like talking to the press very much."

The werewolf shifting Hero didn't spend much time with reporters, tending to get away from them as quickly as he could. Not that it mattered, in his metahuman form his words were so much unintelligible snarls and growls anyway.

"There will be announcements in due course, but we have a number of eager new Heroes-in waiting. As to changes in the training program, it's part of a national program that includes the opening of the Evergreen Metahuman Boarding Academy, and changes in the structure of the Program as it develops from that point as well. When we launched the Program was invite only. You may recognise several of the big faces of the Program as having once been Vigilantes. That doesn't change the fact that there are new metahumans appearing every day, metahumans that want to make a difference but haven't been identified for whatever reason. We hope to give those metahumans a chance to step forward and join the Program. There is an extent to which that is already happening, but this next step will solidify these opportunities for individuals to make a difference."

He shrugged, "As to those Heroes, they are yet to decide who will represent them publicly. It wouldn't be fair, or professional of me to start talking about them before they have decided on their final image."

Leaning forward, he smiled genuinely. "I like that you look to the 'underdogs', people get caught up in the celebrity of Heroes, the ones that get it deserve it of course. I wouldn't change Paladin for the world, but that doesn't mean the ones that people haven't latched onto deserve the recognition any less."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @lizevander

"They were, there was, and still is, a lot of anti-metahuman sentiment. A lot of that is tied to the Grand Central attack, understandably. Shockwave gave super villains a figurehead, but no one knows what he looked like. It's a lot easier to hate something you don't recognise."

He held up his hands in mock surrender to the rush of questions. He had a good idea of the answer, though he couldn't be entirely truthful. He had been part of the group arguing for the Hero Program to be launched then, but it had been a hard decision for him to make. After such a huge attack there had been a marked rise in violent crime perpetrated against suspected metahumans, the government needed to be proactive. Metahumans needed to be proactive. They needed to show that they could be something other than a threat. If the Program had been delayed then it might have led to an entrenching of anti-meta opinions and views.

Even so, many of the Heroes they had put onto the streets had only been partially trained. Even Paladin, the Program's shining star, had not been truly prepared. It was part of the reason the Program had initially recruited metahumans with some sort of enhanced resilience. Most of them were still just as vulnerable as normal humans, and the Program needed to seem unassailable. There had been no fatalities in the Program yet, it was only luck and a particularly gifted metahuman with the ability to heal that had kept them so clean. Of course he couldn't say that many of the Heroes had still been in training when the Program had launched.

"Maybe, but people were afraid, and rightfully so. They needed reassurance, that is what the Hero Program was designed for, to remind people that they live in a country with individuals who have sworn to serve and protect."

Vigilantes were another interesting topic. Dominic had been one himself after all, for a brief period before and shortly after the Event. He'd given that up when he'd realised he could do more good creating the Program. That said, there were still a handful of vigilantes out there. Most of them had disappeared after the Program arrived. One or two notable ones had joined the Program, to much fanfare. Several had tried to continue with their activities until they were tracked down by the FBI and Heroes and informed in no uncertain terms what would happened if they continued to take the law into their own hands.

Some of them were still around. Those too clever to be caught out. "I'd say to them to consider what they're doing. I understand that they can't sit back and watch harm being done, so they should join the Program. Heroes are well trained, they are trained in de-escalation, in assessing a situation, in non-lethal techniques. If there hadn't been a vigilante in the Grand Central attack, if that situation wasn't escalated, things might have ended much better than they did."

And the million dollar question. It had been asked before, although not actually directly. Usually people just asked where he had come from, how a working class black boy had ended up working his way into an influential position with the government. It was sort of insulting that so many casually brushed over his actual business, that had existed before the Event. Bribery, extortion, blackmail. So many different theories, when really, he was just the right man at the right time. He'd developed his powers months before the Event, and he'd had plenty of time to plan for what might come next. Inevitably the Hero Program would have come about, in one shape or another. He'd just managed to get himself in on the ground floor.

"You know Miss Evander, you are the first journalist to ask me that so directly. It helps that I don't talk to many journalists."

It was faintly amusing that she seemed to have surprised herself with her own question, and almost seemed to be apologetic for asking it in the first place. "I am a metahuman."

There, it was out in the open now. He could tell that Liz was ambitious, she wanted more, she wanted to reach out and influence people across the country, across the world. She was just like him.

"I am what is called an electrokine, that is I can draw and direct electricity. Flashy, but not particularly well suited to Hero work I'm afraid."

He raised a hand to wave away the brainfather comment, "And please, don't give me any more credit than I'm due. I went to the government with an idea yes, but a lot of very good people worked very hard to make it work. The Program would have happened with or without me. I just make it look good."

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @lizevander

It was a good question, but hardly one he had not been asked before, or one that had not been answered in a variety of ways. He was almost a little disappointed. "The Program was needed. I'm sure you noticed the metahuman crime that began shortly after the event, as well as the vigilantes that followed shortly after. It was unsustainable, and simply putting metahumans into the Police force would have been impractical, we needed a response as quickly as possible, and Heroes provided an eyecatching, inspiring response, they show that metahumans were more of a force, if you'll pardon the cliché, for good than for evil. A simple uniform would not have had the same effect as those costumes do."

He shook his head to her second question, "Heroes are not intended as a replacement to the Police, it would simply be impractical for a start. Do you know how many metahumans there are in the United States alone?"

He sipped from his coffee, "Neither do I. No one does. What we do know is that they are still a tiny fragment of the population, even if every metahuman in America became a Hero there still wouldn't be a number even close to the combined numbers of our Police Forces. It would simply be unfeasible to attempt to replace them, and they don't need to be replaced."

There was more to it than he would be able to explain, but he could give her an acceptable answer anyway, and it was a significant part of the whole. "Heroes join the program because they want to help people, they want to use their powers for good, if we hamstrung them with arguments of jurisdiction we would just generate unnecessary resentment and honestly, I think most of them would try to help anyway. Have you ever met Paladin? That girl couldn't sit by and watch someone get hurt."

He leaned forward, "Heroes are intended to preserve life by going into situations that would be unreasonably dangerous for normal humans, metacrime being the foremost example of this. We have Heroes that can put people to sleep with a look, or stop bullets by the simple expedient of being in the way. If those abilities can be used to save lives then we should use them to do so."

Of course there were the additional justifications, metahumans were terrifying. Dominic was one, not that it was common knowledge, and he had met several metahumans that terrified him, not least of which had been the Doctor. He did not blame normal humans for being afraid, they were now only the dominant species through numbers, and it was hard finding out that you were second best. Heroes showed that metahumans were willing to serve the public, to protect them. Hopefully it could also tempt potent metahumans away from darker paths. With the kind of power some metas had, there needed to be an opportunity for them to gain wealth and admiration legally. The Hero Program was that opportunity.

"As to the relationship between Heroes and the Police, think of them like a specialised SWAT team. When the Police need to deal with a metahuman criminal that is difficult for them to manage, they call a Hero. Every Hero has what we call a liaison, similar to dispatch for the Police force, and they are patched into every emergency service channel. They monitor situations and let the Heroes know where they need to go, give them intel on metahumans involved and so on. There are more than just the Heroes involved in the Hero Program, without that support staff it simply wouldn't function."

He took another appreciative sip of the coffee, this journalist had a good taste in coffee shops at least, he could give her that.

Surge

The best part of “believe” is the “lie”.

+ @lizevander

Shrugging noncommittally Dominic dodged the question, "I've always enjoyed driving, this just needed a little bit more, it didn't take long. And Dominic is fine."

It helped that Dominic had a very fast car and only a passing acquaintance with the traffic laws, though he had to be a lot more careful these days.

He carefully placed his coffee down on the table, waiting for her to retake her seat before sitting himself. It was old fashioned, but his mother would still tan his hide, successful entrepreneur or no, if she found out that he was rude to a lady. He was glad she didn't sit in on his business meetings, rudeness was rarely called for, but sometimes like only listened to like.

Dom made himself comfortable in his chair, sitting back, and leaving the coffee for now, before turning his attention back to the journalist. It was a clear indication that he was ready to start, and should give away that he had more than a little experience of things like this, though usually in more of an advisory role.

He would have to watch his words here, though he always did, the Daily Star did not seem to be hostile, but the press was fickle, and it was entirely within a journalist's power to misinterpret quotes if it suited them. Liz did not seem the kind of journalist to do that. It was reassuring, but far from a guarantee.

Dominic knew better than most, wars were won with words.