WWYYCD: The Rally

[jkwleisemann]

Vaguely inspired by the discussion in the "Social Equity" thread, the following WWYCD scenario (my first, don't hurt me for it! ):

 

Stage 1: KKK is Coming to Town....

 

Campaign City is having a bit of a controversy. The local Klan (or other hate-group of choice) is arranging a rally; some groups are trying to push to have them stopped somehow, others are supporting their first amendment rights while trying to avoid looking like they support their philosophy. Others, mostly sympathizers, are all for it.

 

Grandstanding is coming from all sides, along with some threats of interference from both opposed groups and some members of the metahuman community, hero and villain alike. The police, and some local heroes, have been asked to provide additional security (possibly including your hero, if there's no particularly obvious reason s/he would be 'unsuitable.')

 

WWYCD?

[FenrisUlf]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Fenris loathes these guys, especially the Nazi-related ones (he's got a reputation as a 'Nazi' -- needless to say it isn't true, but it's still a pain) but they've got as much of a right to air their odious views as anyone else.

 

Afterwards he'd probably try and get a respectable civil rights group to hold a counter-protest, but knowing his luck, he'd get hammered by the press for 'being a wolf in sheep's clothing' again.

[Cold Steel]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Shadowhawk will be torn but unless they do something, he backs off.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Lord Captain Thia Halmades is a Paladin, and a staunch defender of other's rights. That means he's horribly disgusted, but will unflinchingly - and without any remorse - do his civic duty to protect their right to be *******s. The advantage is that with his reputation, no one would dare say anything as moronic as "Thia Halmades is secretly in line with the KKK!" They know better, he has too clear and trackable a record.

 

Downside? He doesn't WANT to do it, in the sense that no one with an open minded view and a willingness to let people be people WANTS to be involved in oppression of any kind. It's disgusting, and deplorable. But it's also their right.

[McCoy]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Millennium: "While I do not agree with [hate group], I do recognize and support their right to peacefully express their opinions. I ask people on both sides of this issue to give the other side the respect they would wish to receive themselves."

 

Cheeta: "Every blockhead has a right to run their mouth in public."

 

Iron Will: "I'm 13! No way I'm working crowd control on this! Get someone with a driver's license!"

 

Snow Leopard: "Excuse me, I have better things to do than referree a playground name calling contest. Call me if violence errupts."

 

Dolphin: "I'm sure if we all listen to each other, we'll find some common ground and work from there."

[TheRavenIs]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Flame: He would do what was asked of him. He would expect violence, but would hope it wouldn't.

 

Bear Cat: Nope. He'd be on the other side protesting the jerks.

 

Recoil: He'd do it, but he'd very vocal that the idots have the right to be idots, and if violence happens he'll do what he has to do to stop either side that started it.

 

The rest would be watching from a distance and act if violence happened.

[OddHat]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

STYLE - Has no reason to work crowd control. If he happens to pass the march, he turns them all black. He knows that this will probably come back to haunt him later, but it's funny, and he doesn't get many laughs.

FLESH GORDON- Declines to work crowd control unless there's a serious metahuman threat.

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Let's see ... old character, new character. For the sake of these WWYCDs, I'm assuming that it's just the rally, and there's no related violence going along with it.

 

Old character, War Wolf, would be the stereotypical 'I hate them, they're loathesome, but they've got a First Amendment like everybody else'.

 

New character, Quantum Kitsune, would do everything in her power to embarass the living crap out of them with illusions, invisible/teleportational pranks ("I'm going to use 10" of Teleport, Useable Against Pants"), rigging the microphone in the podium to leak helium, making the parade cars run like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, rigging the sheet-masks to put the wearer in blackface. She'd probably rent Blazing Saddles (hell, she probably OWNS it) before the rally for inspiration.

 

All the while claiming their right to say what they wish.

[jkwleisemann]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Let's see ... old character' date=' new character. For the sake of these WWYCDs, I'm assuming that it's just the rally, and there's no related violence going along with it.[/quote']

Well, at this point... but note that I did only say 'Stage 1.'

 

And, as a note, I love Quantum Kitsune's response.

 

Putting a few of mine in here:

 

Void: If asked to help, would turn them down flat. About the best he'd do is not interfere, and even then it would be perfectly clear that Dominic DuBey (as a private individual, even head of a major corporation, he's free to express his own opinions on these sorts of things) disapproves strongly of their message. He wouldn't actively interfere, but unless somebody actively made an attack of some sort, he woudln't interfere with them either.

 

Darkchild: "Folks, they've got the right to be idiots. But before you go on too much further, y'wanna stop and think this through a bit? I mean... if you'd like, I could ask if this is really the will of the particular God you're going on about, but if he said no, it'd be really embarrassing, wouldn't it?"

 

Steel Claw: If asked to help out with the security, he'd probably look at them, then start laughing. He'd be split between somewhat offended and wanting to turn them down... and wondering what would happen if he pointed out that these brave White Warriors were so concerned with the possibility that others might hurt them that they came and practically begged a black superhero to protect their civil rights, taking off his helmet to prove his point.

 

Probably end up turning them down, knowing that there were too many ways that it could be taken wrong if he did go. He's not a great orator by any means, so he couldn't really hijack the rally as effectively as others could.

 

If not asked to help (though that'd be unusual, as he's one of the premiere heros of his home-city at this point, and they don't know he's black), he'd probably be right there with the counter-rallies, making it clear which side he was on.

 

Galaxy Girl: Wouldn't be asked to help (15 year old girls as your security force don't really improve the ol' image), so she'd be free to do the things she always wanted to do with the Klan back home - blip into the middle of the rally, borrow the mic, ask a few logical, well-thought out questions, and blip back out, leaving him to try and find the answers for them before repeating.

 

Sparky: You'd be amazed what you can get away with when you're a dog. Especially a dog with electrical powers. Most likely, once he had it explained to him what they wanted, they'd find it was suddenly very, very difficult to speak through their mics without the darned things developing static and feedback issues.

 

Heart Breaker (sword-wielding martial artists with serious issues with hate-mongers): Despite being a hero, she'd be among the first in the counter-rallies, and depending on how heated the debate got, quite possibly among the first to turn it into a small-scale riot. She knows, deep down, that it doesn't help anything, but there comes a point where she can't stomach to listen to those sort of people anymore. It'd progress from debate, to argument, to thrown punches that can go through brick, in reasonably short progression.

 

(Edited for formatting issues.)

[Spectrum]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Shadowfist: Wouldn't involve himself in anyway. He would more than likely ignore groups like the KKK and go about his daily life.

 

Spectrum: If there's anything in the protest that would be "anti-mutant" he would probably join in a couter protest and if things got really heated would find himself using every bit of willpower to keep himslef from getting into trouble through some display of his powers to embarass the other side.

[薔薇語]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Snow Leopard: "Excuse me, I have better things to do than referree a playground name calling contest. Call me if violence errupts."

 

LA Rose Would probly have the same response. He is Mil. City's premier super hero and has much better things to do. Also being a forein national, he doesn't see much need to mess with the American's right to spout off at anything and everything(Hell look at Bill O'Reilly).

 

Most of my other memorable characters wouldn't care or would more than likily than not just hide(being the outcast).

 

La Rose

[CrosshairCollie]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

And' date=' as a note, I love Quantum Kitsune's response.[/quote']

 

Thank you. She doesn't so much fight crime as play cruel tricks on it.

[Lucius]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Stormwalker would rain on their parade. Literally.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

What would a palindromedary do?

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Jake the Troll is, as a troll, vaugely nordic; however, he's also fairly heavily Catholic, and as such finds stuff like this pretty darned disgusting. The good part of that is that the Klan tends to be extremely conservative protestant, and as such they'd consider him to be in line with the Whore of Babylon. Note that Jake is also, technically speaking, neither human nor white. He's also 16. Thus, they wouldn't probably ask him.

 

Assuming his parents even let him NEAR the rally, he would sit in the front, directly in front of a klansman, and MOCK them for hours on end, up to and including pretending to be flamingly gay in order to critique their wardrobe.

 

If it was during the day, he wouldn't go. His main form that doesn't turn to stone in sunlight appears to be an extremely attractive woman of norse decent. He doesn't want to be in anyone's naughty Aryan dreams that night.

 

Shinji Miromoto is a foreign national living illeaglly in the US. He's prime KKK target material, and definately wouldn't be asked. If he knew such a rally was going to be in the city? He'd avoid it.

[David Blue]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Thunder would gladly help the police. Where there is no team work to do, she generally gets assigned boring duties. This would be a day out.

 

Orgone Man would be delighted to help the police. This job is what he does. He'll work conscientiously to make the day a peaceful one. If he has to hit some KKK guys with calming rays, and they find a bath of mental health an unsettling experience - good!

 

Last Hero would listen to the advice of his dancing and arts crowd friends, so he would join the anti-KKK rally. But he would also arrange to have a friendly policeman in eye and ear shot, to signal him if help was needed. Last Hero's real agenda for the day would be: nobody gets hurt today.

 

All these heroes would much rather do this than bust criminals, super or otherwise. They like protecting people, and they're very good at doing so with little or no violence.

 

Chain Lightning would refuse to appear in daylight and get photographed. However he would appear in the spectators, wearing civvies though in super form, not carrying a weapon (a chain), not drawing attention to himself, and definitely not about to cut loose with demon-slaying lightning in a crowded area.

[AdamLeisemann]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

WARNING!: "CREATIVE" INTERPRETATION

I know for a fact that the KKK is all about racism. In some of these responses, "racism" is expanded. This is not intended to offend anybody.

 

Sonic Eagle has this little maxim: "One's rights only go far as long as they don't infringe on anyone else's rights." He'll keep out until the Klan starts actually breaking the law; which is inevitable given their track record.

 

(Why KKK would be against him: He's African-American.)

 

Lab Rat would do best to keep out as long as he can. He's a mutant, he does NOT look human, and the KKK are some of the nastiest folks in American history. Of course, if push comes to shove, he'll act against these bigoted cretins.

 

(Why KKK would be against him: He's a mutant, and does not look human.)

 

Reinard the Fox at this point has no clue about the KKK, so he'll probably do some research to find out more about them. Once he finds out exactly what sort of people they are, he'll wait until they start doing some damage, and he'll get in to stop them as best as he can.

 

(Why KKK would be against him: He's not even human.)

 

Kitsune would use her charisma to stage protests against them. Afterall, if they have the right to speak against civil rights, then the decent folks have a right to speak against these racist pigs!

 

(Why KKK would be against her: She's Japanese, shinto, and a woman. That's three minorities there.)

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Meeb would be there. An amoeba with 16 mete long arms is great for crowd control. However, his still being new to Earth culture, he wouldn't have the dichotomy of hating the speaker while protecting them. And as he is a man sized amoeba, then they would likely say bad things about him during the rally, in which case he would respond.

Angelfire would turn down the offer. She would likely attract more crowd problems rather than help control them. She's a rockstar before a superhero - she's usually the ones that needs crowd control to help crowds around her.

 

Terminal Velocity would do it, but would hate every second of it. But riots aren't good either.

 

Sift would help, and figure something more was up and use her powers to try and find out what would happen that would be a problem besides the crowd.

Blackcat would be willing, but would unlikely to be asked. When she went muderous/villian under a possesssion, the person she killed was the leader the major neo-nazi supervillian team. That likely wouldn't fly. If it were some other hate group, she would agree, and keep a low profile.

 

Ballistic would agree, but not like it. He was a cop before being a superhero, and understands the value of peace. And he is a firm believer in the "I disagree with what you say, but will fight to my last breath your chance to say it." If he would have thought of it, and he probably wouldn't, he'd do things with his 80 pt magic pool like what was mentioned for Quantum Kitsune.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Vaguely inspired by the discussion in the "Social Equity" thread, the following WWYCD scenario (my first, don't hurt me for it! ):

 

Stage 1: KKK is Coming to Town....

 

 

Campaign City is having a bit of a controversy. The local Klan (or other hate-group of choice) is arranging a rally; some groups are trying to push to have them stopped somehow, others are supporting their first amendment rights while trying to avoid looking like they support their philosophy. Others, mostly sympathizers, are all for it.

 

Grandstanding is coming from all sides, along with some threats of interference from both opposed groups and some members of the metahuman community, hero and villain alike. The police, and some local heroes, have been asked to provide additional security (possibly including your hero, if there's no particularly obvious reason s/he would be 'unsuitable.')

 

WWYCD?

 

Aquatic- Working as he does with the OSC, might be asked to do this as part of his job. Bleeding heart that he is, his sympathies would be with those protesting the Klan even though he'd stand by the racists #$#$jerks right to protest. Unless Meghan (Team Liason) warned them to shut up, he'd speak out against the Klan firmly, probably add a few profane remarks, and then say that nevertheless he'll be there keeping the peace. He'd point out his own green hair and orange eyes, and explain that, clearly, those who discriminate against people due to color differences aren't his favorites.

 

Then he'd do his job, waiting for ##$%# to happen, because he's pessimistic like that.

 

Banner-Would use his considerable oratory, history skills, and more to keep the peace, defending the right for the Klan to speak, then praise the contributions of Blacks throughout the history of the nation, most likely invoking the civil rights leaders of the past, and make a few remarks on the Klan's backward nature in his view.

 

Gaze-Would not assist openly, but will watch the crowds to prevent trouble. He is, despite many temptations, an ethical mentalist for the most part, seeking to use his mind control powers in crime fighting only. He would use it to keep the peace, but afterwards IF He made his ego roll to overcome his usual standards, might try to teach a few lessons in humanity to the prominent KKK members after. He does have Mental Illusions, so slipping into their bedrooms while they slept and giving them nightmares akin to the one in Twilght Zone the movie...where the bigot has images of being placed on a train with a yellow star into a train headed to a Nazi concentration camp, or runs as an escaped slave.

 

Mole- Too immature to really get the whole 'They have a right to free speech thing' in some ways. He might be tempted to sabatoge the Klan rally himself by digging out the supports of any platform they were going to use. If someone actually got hurt by this 'harmless joke' he'd be horrorfied with himself.

[Trebuchet]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Zl'f, being one of Earth's most popular and respected heroines, would take any opportunity to remind listeners that her own late father fought the same kind of insane racial hatred during World War Two, when as a young armor officer he battled the Nazis in Russia. She wouldn't miss any chance to point out that KKK = Nazi ideologically.

[Blue]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Anthem would show up just to be certain the peace is kept. She may not even make herself visible untill a problem occurs. And she'd start off with costume concealed, since she has no particular "I.D." disad.

 

Uncle Slam would decline, leaving it to the local authorities. His appearance there would be spun by both sides to no good effect, and he will not be a lightning rod for such discussions.

[Zed-F]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Soulbarb would not get asked in the first place, not by the police, much less by the KKK. She doesn't just try to keep her ID a secret, she tries to keep the very existence of her HID a secret. Plus having a demon show up at the rally wouldn't help anyone keep the peace. If she found out about the rally, and had some reason in particular to expect trouble beyond what such a rally might normally provoke, she might arrange to be in the area (probably in her normal ID,) but in the absence of such forewarnings, this sort of thing is really a job for the police.

 

Sylph isn't really in the public eye yet and is still a virtual unknown, though that's bound to change at some point. She'd most likely find out about the rally by whatever flyers were up at the university. She wouldn't be interested in being security for such a rally, though again she might show up in her secret ID just on general principles.

[Spiral]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Shimmer would do what was asked of her, she believes in protecting everyones rights no matter who they are.

 

Taylor would protest the rally having been a victim of a hate crime.

 

PsiCat would be their just to make sure no harm came to the citizens of the city.

[Badger]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

I guess the KKK would hate Badger being half-alien and all.

 

Anyway, Badger would probably keep an eye, unofficially, from a rooftop or something. Just in case it gets totally out of control. Otherwise, stay out of it. Probably laugh at the irony of how much humans seem to hate each other, and that in the event that his father's race were to actually get a mind to attack Earth, the Earthlings would be helpless. Then realize the irony that he is defending people who probably dont like him, and get depressed and moody.

 

Frosty Bob- Oh Lord!!! Dont call him. He wants to whoop@$$. If anybody in the crowd get wild, he'll mow down have the people there.

[Lethosos]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Hrmm...

 

Khronos would, theoretically, decline--freedom of speech and all--but it isn't below him to mock the KKK in whatever ways he can. I mean, even a small 10-point Magic Pool can do a lot... can anyone say Images of a large downward arrow and the words "COMPLETE LOSERS" above them?

 

He'll still be on hand in case crowd control is needed.

[Guest daeudi_454]

Re: WWYYCD: The Rally

 

Firedrake: "Violence will be met with violence. I suggest you humans behave, lest you learn the true meaning of 'Grand Dragon'.":smoke:

Quantum Cat: Join the protestors with a noise-cancelling device aimed at the KKK. (Darkness vs Hearing) Freedom of Speech overruled by freedom of silence.

The Player: "Aw, Hell no! My great uncle lost an eye fighting Nazis... I ain't protecting their philosophical bastards.":thumbdown

Ion: The KKK can forget about a working sound system, and I wouldn't be surprised if something ripped their cowardly hoods off. You would be surprised how fast ball lightning duplicates can be.

He believes that Freedom of Speech carries the Price of Publicity.