There was a question, how do you treat a male, whom you have just watched carnally enjoying himself, out in the open, with a female obviously not his wife? A female who, on a casual check on my part, was currently getting out of a car, in front of a private clinic? A private clinic that specialised in women’s health?

While feigning polite indifference regarding the conversation between Brightstar and the male, also known as Senator Murphy, I decided to get advice from the only source I could think of, namely Technica. In some ways, it was a mother’s job to provide advice regarding males to their daughters, was it not? Though the question on whether to warn a male that his carnal jousting might not be as innocent as he hoped was likely not on a list of questions a normal mother had to deal with. But then, what was normal about me, about Technica or about our relationship?

“Technica, there is more development on the situation I showed you earlier.” I told her, transmitting the footage I had taken from the female entering the clinic.

“So it might be a set-up? Doesn’t matter, we remain silent and neutral.” she replied, making me frown beneath my mask. While I was not too worried about the person in question, from his conversation with Brightstar he seemed to be a prototypical politician, able to say a hundred words and not mean a single one of them, but when did silence become complicity? The old adage about all needed for the triumph of evil was the inaction of good sprang to mind.

“I know you’ve criticized the Guild on numerous occasions, for their secrecy, their lack of transparency and general neutral stance in all things, you now have the perfect opportunity to directly address your concerns and criticism with two of their executive members, if you so choose. You might even manage to convince them to record your discussion for broadcast or to upload on the internet.” Brightstar suggested to the Senator, making my earlier frown deepen, though now for a different reason.

“Brighstar, you know that Guild-members never go on public record with our ranks within the organisation, it is part of our founding principles. Even those of the executive, as you call it, are not exempt from that, unless voicing the decisions of the council. Those are announced as decisions of the council, not that it is generally known who is on the council.” Technica patiently explained, the tone of her voice hinting that she had said those words hundreds of times already, and knew that she would likely say them again in the future.

“And that is the problem. How can the citizens of this great country and every person on Earth be content with an organisation that is partially funded by them all, but that they have no authority over? An organisation without oversight, without civilian control, without elections, worse than even the darkest authoritarian countries, and even partially funded by them?” the Senator asked, getting a little heated in his speech.

“Oversight is a tricky thing in an organisation dedicated to those who are often living in hiding. Sadly, there are many places in the world, including this country, with groups that dislike Powered for who we are. For the way we were born, not for anything we ever did to them or in general.” Technica calmly responded, not getting pulled into his pace.

“Did you know that the vast majority of violence committed by Powered is directly linked to violence directed at the same Powered? A Powered gets attacked, often with intent to do great harm, strikes back in self-defense and gets vilified in the media. Gets called a Supervillan and people ask why the Superheroes don’t bring that villian down. Without a trial, without knowing even the facts, those Powered get turned into an enemy of the public.” she continued, getting the Senator to sigh.

“The right of self-defense is certainly universal. But it has to be a measured response, you can’t simply take out a rifle and start shooting because someone bumped into you. Or enslave the mind of another, taking away their God-given free will.” he replied, his voice sounding sad, but I was not certain if it was acting.

“Which would be assault, depending on jurisdiction, assault with a Power, which carries an even more severe penalty. Though it is notoriously difficult to prove that such a crime was committed, let alone prove it beyond any reasonable doubt. Simply because human nature is what it is and human memory is as imperfect as it is.” I threw in, his stance causing me to be slightly annoyed.

“But that is all relatively irrelevant to the Guild as an organisation. The Guild was founded to provide a bridge between all Powered and the rest of humanity, an advocacy organisation, if you will. Right after the Great War, when a group of Powered got together in an attempt to keep all Powered from the fate of being turned into weapons.” Technica explained, making me raise an eyebrow, as the founding of the Guild was, as so many things about it, shrouded in secrecy. The information might be on the servers she had given me access to, but I had never cared to look for it.

“Back then, they had the fear that individual Powered, along the two major power-blocks that emerged from the Great War, would drift further into their ideological differences until finally, the whole thing would explode in a storm of nuclear fire. The idea that Powered, like the mentalists you just mentioned, would work on behalf of their governments, without any neutral force to try to attenuate growing extremism, was apparently quite scary. So they formed a neutral force, namely the Guild.” She finished her impromptu history lesson.

The Senator let out a soft snort, before replying, “Tales of the past, old fears and ideas, no longer fit for our modern World. Maybe the Guild shouldn’t cling to those fears and instead embrace the Future?”

“A future molded along the lines of current western values, maybe? Accept oversight from a committee, ideologically wedded to certain groups?” Technica asked, her voice still calm and gentle.

“I’m afraid that is impossible. When I said the Guild was founded as a bridge between all of humanity, Powered or not, that didn’t just refer to the Western World. We need to be just as acceptable in Africa as we need to be accepted in the US. We need to be able to talk to the Muslims of Arabia, while also having a connection to a technocracy like Korea. We need to remain neutral, which is getting harder and harder as ideas and standards all over the world drift apart. Things that are barely worth a shrug in one part of the world carry capital punishments in other parts. And the Guild is supposed to bridge those differences, which are often deeper than the differences caused by the presence or absence of Powers.” she responded to her own rhetorical question, her voice now a little sad.

“Anyway, I’m afraid this is not the best forum for this. If you like, we can set up a debate between you, a suitable person from another political affiliation and Metis here. She is my apprentice and will most likely succeed my seat on the Guild Council one day. Though the only title officially applied would, as always, be that of an associate of the Powered Guild, nothing more.” she added and once again, I was happy that my mask blocked any visual clues on my face, while the costume should mostly block any telling body-language.

“That certainly sounds interesting. I wouldn’t mind joining the discussion, possibly presenting a different facet of Powered society.” Brightstar piped up, while the Senator looked thoughtful.

“It would depend on the topics at hand but it certainly does sound interesting. We would need a neutral moderator though, my first thought would have been one of the Superheroes of America, maybe even Brightstar herself, but if you join us, you can’t moderate. I’m afraid I’ve got a busy schedule, could I ask you to act as a go-between and coordinate things with my office?” he asked Brighstar, sounding genuinely interested.

“Certainly, Senator. Maybe we could ask a venerable and retired reporter to moderate?” she suggested, sounding quite happy at the prospect.

In the meantime, while the two of them had taken Technica’s idea and ran with it, I had registered my complaint with her. I had no desire to debate a Senator, let alone two, nor did I have any interest in getting myself on television or internet-broadcast, not unless I completely controlled the content and medium.

Sadly, it seemed that publicity and public speaking were part of my training and required for future Guild-activities. At least I would be allowed to wear my mask and costume.