myresponsibility | 021

[Peter's sitting on the roof of the greenhouses. He hides up here a lot when he's feeling crappy, because it's one of the highest points on the Barge and for the most part, it's a good place to go when your room's feeling a little too claustrophobic and familiar.

Not that anyone listening to the network post will really be able to tell, aside from the fact that he sounds like his jaw's a little locked in an attempt to stop his teeth from chattering. It gets cold out here at night now.]

So, I think there's kind of been some like, miscommunication about how things actually are, for people like me? Like, I get it, some of us are fictional where you're from, and that's cool or whatever- [And pretty creepy, if he's really thinking about it, but he prefers not to think about how people might know about things he'd rather keep secret.] Or we've got stuff that you don't have in your world, like superpowers or magic and stuff, but that doesn't mean our lives are like, an episode of My Little Pony or something.

I don't think any of us would be here if something bad hadn't happened to us, and like, I've never read these comics or anything? But seriously, if anyone thinks being a superhero is easy just because I've got superpowers, or because someone else has monsters or giant robots or whatever to fight, you really, really don't get it. Good people - people you don't know and people you really care about still get hurt. They might even die. [Uncle Ben, Captain Stacy, the billion times Bond's gotten himself hurt or killed on the Barge and he hasn't been able to do anything about it. A lot of good having superpowers did him then.] Maybe in front of you. And you might not be able to stop it.

Or they'll leave, because it's safer.

[Because while Captain Stacy's alive now, he'll still want him to stay away from Gwen. And Bond's gone, and he's been back before, but there's no guarantee that he will this time. It's stupid to be upset about it or miss him, because the Barge sucks, and he's better off at home. Really.]

So just... think. Before you start saying you get it, or how I don't get it because you think having superpowers means my world's "less real" than yours. Because if someone made a movie about my life? I seriously doubt it's something you'd want to trade for.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It happens. You can't save everybody from everything, and that sucks, but that's just how things work.

I've noticed that. The not being able to save everyone, and the sucking.

So, are you still going to do it? Try to be a hero?

I am. At least, as much as I can. I have all these powers, I may as well put them to good use and stop trying to fight it.

What made you want to fight it? If that's like, okay to ask.

It's alright. I mean, I woke up on Earth and all I wanted was to go home. And then home was gone, and I just wanted to be normal.

And that didn't work?

People kept attacking. I didn't speak the language, so my only friend was a girl whose power was language, and her dad turned out to be some sort of supervillain. I don't even know what the man with the nanobot armor wanted, but the man on the space station wanted to experiment on me or something. Either I'm just a trouble magnet or Terrans are exceptionally skilled at identifying aliens.