Not Just for Supers

Vectis sat in the hero lounge fixing up his equipment after his latest patrol. He recharged the battery in his com-link, buffed out the scratches in his armor, and wiped the blood off his gloves. He liked doing maitenance after patrol. It gave him a chance to focus on one thing and do it, instead of the constant vigilance on patrol that split his attention twenty different ways. He didn't even notice when Aura floated in.

Vectis rolled his eyes and sighed. It wasn't that Vectis disliked Aura, it was just hard to feel sorry for supers who had all this great power and then bitched about the effort it took to live a normal life. They have super powers for crying out loud! Being able to stop bullets and bench-press planets more than makes up for a skin condition or restraint of ability for assimilation with "normals". Aura liked to whine about how the effect of his "emotional miasma" made it difficult to know what people genuinely felt about him. The guy can make supermodels fall in love with him, and that BOTHERS him?

Aura sat down on the couch and grimaced at the blood on Vectis' glove. "We need to talk," Aura stated plainly. He waited for Vectis to set aside the armor he was buffing, but the other hero just kept cleaning without looking up. "I suppose this is about the dead shooter," Vectis asked after several moments of silence. Aura was a little disappointed in the lack of regret in his voice.

"Actually, yes. Care to explain why he's dead?" Aura felt like a condescending prick, but the conversation was needed.

"Well. he had a hostage, a gun to her head, and nowhere to run. He was going to kill her. I had a knife, a clear shot at his head, and a near perfect throwing arm. I was going to save her. I ended a life, regretfully, but I saved an innocent one. That's something I don't regret."

Aura massaged his temple. "I get that. But superheroes don't kill. We're supposed to be better than that. We abide fully by the simple rules of morality to make up for all the people that can't. Our abilities afford us a rare chance to make up for the short-comings of our nature."

Vectis clenched and unclenched his fists as he struggled to keep from losing his cool. "That's great for supers. I"M not a super. I'm a camping enthusiast who used his knowledge of survivalism to become a costumed vigilante. I have no invulnerability to stop a bullet, or super speed to stop a trigger-pull, or emotion-altering clouds to change someone's mind. I'm one of those normal people that your abilities are making up for."

Aura studied him for a long solemn time. "Then that's why it's so important that you stick to the rules. We've given people an excuse not to be their best. I'm ashamed to say that you're right; morality has been monopolized by superheroes. I think it's time we shared the wealth. Starting with you. If you think you can do it."

Vectis picked up the bloodied glove. The shooter- he didn't even know his name- was disturbingly still when Vectis retrieved his knife from his eye socket. Never having to do that again sounded good to him. Vectis nodded once and left to wash the blood out.