004. Third Flight - Slightly distorted video

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[What is that? An American flag fluttering across the screen? No, just a cape. A very bright, very red cape. Clark is practicing his hovering, because it looks completely different on screen than simply standing still, and strengthens his make-believe that Superman and Clark Kent are from different universes, and that he can fly, you know, just

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[Monsters be damned, Re-l can take care of herself. She's sitting on the roof of her apartment building, alone, with a gun safely tucked at her side in case she runs into any trouble later. She's swinging her small legs off the edge as she watches the fireworks, smiling to herself. They really are pretty, and it's a shame she didn't take advantage of this last year.

Of course, Superman wasn't around then.

She'll have to thank him later.]

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If I didn't try it at eight, why would I try it when I'm twenty-one?

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I've heard a bit about your home. Seems colouring and tag might be frowned upon. It's alright, I'm not really serious. It just seems...sad, to miss out on a part of your childhood like that.

[Thinking of Lex again.]

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It's nothing you should be distressed over. I've done some things on my own this past week that I wasn't able to do with my usual schedule. That's enough.

Besides, if I really re-visited my childhood, I'd be studying all day.

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Don't. I'll be convinced that you're Luthor's female double. [Said with the edge of amusement, but then she's not in on the joke.] Just sitting and enjoying the fireworks was presumably difference enough.

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...Luthor?

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Lex Luthor. A supervillain from my home, and my arch-nemesis. [Although he's talking in present tense. There's no present tense for him. For Clark.] He's a genius, but he got there by drowning himself in knowledge, cutting himself off from the world around him.

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[She frowns but raises one small, slender eyebrow.]

I'm not a genius, first off. Secondly, I have no desire to be a villain. Just as I have no desire to run around in tights.

[Leather, on the other hand...]

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Well he didn't really have the desire to be a villain either. It just sort of happened. He wanted to make the world a better place--with him on top of it. And I kept getting in the way of that. He...cut corners, put people's lives in danger, killed them. And he turned that genius against me, too.

The world isn't really that black and white; good and bad.

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Anyone who wants to make the world a better place by being in charge... They should be questioned. They should have people there to keep them in check. If they refuse it, then their own selfishness can lead to so many other problems. Killing, too, is inexcusable in those situations.

I know it's not. There's a lot of gray areas.

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And it's not all capes and cowls, either. Luthor could have been a great man, but I inspired him to jealousy, to hatred. If I hadn't been there-- Well.

[He shakes his head. He's saved too many lives to believe that his existence is wrong, but how many lives could Luthor have saved if he'd just done things right?]

We were friends once. The closest.

[He leans forward, looks into the drop below them.]

Which are you? Black, white or grey?

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You shouldn't regret being around, Superman. You're a good person and you've helped a good many people. If that's what it took to make him angry, then that's his fault and not yours.

[She looks at him and frowns.]

Grey.

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I don't. I regret not being able to save him.

[He smiles.]

I'm glad to hear it. There's a lot of expectations on white, and black doesn't really exist. Try explaining that one to a chessmaster.

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Understandably.

[She just hopes it doesn't drive him too hard.]

You're sure it doesn't exist? What about people like Yaha and Roman Sionis?

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I don't know Roman, but my experience with Yaha suggests he suffered massive trauma as a child. That's hardly his fault. And he's the last of his kind. He does evil, there's no doubt about that, but he doesn't do evil for evil's sake, meaning that it's still grey.

Maybe I'm spoilt, my enemies have always had a motive, their acts have always been formed from a powerful desire that I identify as human, or made out of a past that any sensible person would pity. Luthor grew up friendless, lost his hair, and when he reached out to me I wasn't there for him; Bizarro wanted me gone so that he could replace me, so that he could live - he had my memories so he wanted my life, and who could blame him? - Doomsday was in love with a friend of mine, and his frustration over not being her first love drove him to destroy everything around her.

'Evil' is complicated, and if you don't have pity for it, if you don't try to understand it, then all you're doing is fighting the outcome, not the cause.

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I don't think you're spoiled, but if none of these people attempt to get help, then they're embracing what they are and what they want to do. People killing for the sake of killing, people killing because it's fun are hardly examples of people with past trauma.

I wish I could be as optimistic as you that people can change. I don't think many of them can once they've reached that point.

I may have pity for the people but I have no reason to be lenient towards their actions.