Chapter 34

Jen rubs the bridge of her nose tiredly as she stares at the content of her closet.

"Johan, it's been a really long day already, this isn't how I wanted to spend my evening."

I shrug "I could go ask one of the other Gem holders, but most of them aren't big fans of using powers for retribution."

She gives me an annoyed look "And you think I am?!"

"If the reason is good enough? Yes."

Jen looks like she wants to argue, before turning back to our captive. Moonstone glares hatefully up at us from her position on the floor. I removed the frozen effect from her to allow her to return to human form before I secured her with a few power-cancelling ropes, allowing her to hear our discussion, even if the gag keeps her from adding much to it. I also took the opportunity to switch her Moonstone costume with the same kind of orange jumpsuit the prisoners at the Raft usually wears.

"And why exactly did you take her here instead of prison?"

"Uh, because she's part of a government task force, so right now she's effectively above the law?" Moonstone actually has the balls to look smug at that statement. "Even with Osborne gone, the Thunderbolts are still sanctioned, so she'd just be out again in a day."

Jen shakes her head "And why just her? Why aren't the rest of the jerk squad here?"

"I wasn't that mad at the others" I begin counting them off on my fingers "Gargan is already powerless and back in jail, Radioactive Man is a real bastard but not that different from your average supervillain, Songbird is almost sympathetic, and Penance... well, he's just misguided. I already dealt with Bullseye."

"And what about the Swordsman?"

"Von Strucker? I stranded him in Israel without his sword, leaving his powerless, and they're not crazy about Nazis there." True, he's not a war criminal like his father, but he is an internationally wanted white supremacist, so he's probably not going to have a fun time there.

Jen looks back down at Moonstone, who's trying to yell something through her gag. "She seriously killed six of her patients?"

"Not personally, she manipulated them into suicide basically just for kicks, which is almost worse than killing them herself. How do you think she got her powers?"

"Wasn't there another Moonstone before? You mean she-"

"No, he's not dead, but she did manage to talk her way into him giving up the stone so she could take it instead. She's smart, I'll give her that, which is why it's a bit disappointing she's been such a mediocre supervillain" Moonstone growls angrily behind the gag "Yeah, you heard me, you fucking bitch. ME-DI-OCRE!! Seriously, you can fly, you got superstrength, you can manipulate gravity for fucks sake! And the best you can do with all your smarts is be a second-rate Ms Marvel?" I sigh and shake my head. "She killed her own mother too."

"She...jesus christ."

"Yeah, they don't talk about it whenever she gets arrested, but she did WAY more horrible shit before she ever got her powers than she did with them. You'd think superpowers would give a sociopath more to work with, but I think being able to blast everyone she hated to ashes just made her lazy."

Moonstone begins to struggle against her chains, but I make them constrict tighter, forcing her to settle down. Jen looks uncertain "Can't you just take away her powers?"

"Oh, that goes without saying, I just wanted to talk with you first. Yoink!" Moonstone gasps as a flash of light flares out of her body, and a glowing gemstone pulls out of her chest and right into the palm of my hand. She begins struggling again, screaming loudly enough against the gag that I can hear the muffled cursing through it.

"There, boom, done, back down to regular old terrible Karla Sofen." I hold up the Moonstone for Jen, who stares at the glittering gem.

"That's what gave her powers? What are you going to do with it?"

I look down on the stone, tossing it idly in my hand "I dunno, it's not like I need it myself. You know anyone who would be a good fit for Moonstone's powers?"

"I...I've never thought about it. I could ask around?"

I nod and shove the stone into the pocket of my vest "Do that. For now, still gotta finish up with ex-Moonstone here."

Jen looks down at Sofen, who is now tired and disleveled from the struggle, looking increasingly pity in her impotent rage. "I don't know, Johan... I'm really not comfortable with this. I either punch bad guys, or take them to court. Those are my areas of expertise. This whole... old testament thing you're doing is really not in my comfort zone. I think you should just take her to jail. Especially now that she's powerless, not like the SRA will have any use for her."

I sigh and raise my hand to poof Sofen away, when something occurs to me "Hey Jen, I get that you're not on board with the whole karmic transformation thing, but how do you feel about healing?"

"I'm... tentatively positive about it?"

"Good, because I just realized... not having working empathy is one hell of a health condition. I think I could give Miss Sofen here a quick fix before we let the authorities take over."

Sofen's eyes widen, and she attempts to scoot away further into the closet, in a vain attempt at escaping what's about to happen.

.....

"Okay... explain to me again where you found this woman?"

The doctor stared down at the blonde woman lying in the hospital bed, blank eyes staring mindlessly up at the prison ceiling above. The power-armored guard looked at her for a moment before answering. "Well, like I said Doc, we were out on our shift when she just popped out of thin air right at the front gate! We thought it was some kind of botched escape attempt at first since she was wearing one of our jumpsuits, but her hands were tied, and she had a note stuck to her back."

"Note?"

"Here, take a look" The guard offered him a folded paper, a small hole at the top where the safety needle had been.

"This is Karla Sofen, formerly known as Moonstone. Please try to keep her locked up this time. XOXO, G." The doctor turned the paper around, but there was nothing else written on it. "That's it?"

"That's it. What's wrong with her, doc?"

The doctor adjusted his glasses as he began to go through the patients vital signs "She seems to be healthy, but she's entered a catatonic state for some reason. She also reads as a baseline human, and does not exhibit any of the energies recorded in Karla Sofen during her previous incarcerations. If this is really her, someone has done us a favor."

...

"You gave her a conscience?"

"Yes? It's not like it was difficult, people are supposed to have empathy, all I had to do was want her to have it, and she did. Though now she'll have to deal with all the crap she did but that's her problem."

We've retreated to the kitchen, since Jen was torn between the Moonstone situation, and having been in a courtroom all day with no lunch break. Again, I put my basic, but adequate skills in the kitchen to use and fix the two of us a quick meal of chicken baguettes before joining her at the table. She takes a bite from her sandwich before her next question.

"Look, I'm not saying Osborn didn't deserve what you did, but you're not planning on making a habit out of these kind of things, right? I feel like you might be sending the wrong message, especially since you were so insistant that Stark and Reed go to trial."

"Stark and Reed were traitors who's crimes had to be exposed to everyone will know what they did and what a farce the SRA really is. Norman Osborn is a serial killer who any sane nation would have executed years ago, he's gotten how many trials? It doesn't matter, because he's rich, and smart, and know exactly how to manipulate his way out of trouble every goddamn time. Except now."

Jen doesn't look convinced "Still, that just makes it sound like you're going to use your powers to punish whenever the system doesn't do things the way you want them to..."

"I... sort of am? Jen, I'm not a superhero, I've said this repeatedly, I don't adhere to the morality you guys hold to. I'm fine with letting the system handle most criminals, because most of them aren't worth my time. But it's shown itself to be clearly incapable of properly containing certain people, and when that catches my attention, I'm probably going to step in. All the money in the world isn't going to get Osborn out of this one."

"So why just him? Why not every supervillain? Or just every mass murderer? Not like there's a lack of those"

I shrug and begin eating "Same reason I won't heal every person with cancer, or resurrect every person who's died unfairly. Unless it's something I'm personally invested in, I probably won't bother. Or I might, if someone asks me in person and I feel like doing it. Or I hear about something and want to fix it. But I'm not going to go looking for things to feel bad about."