Ninja Nicoya
Hilarious Smoker
Location: ArcticCompany: Athena
The Arctic winds carried an inscrutable silence, but he forced his focus toward the objective at hand—unraveling why Athena had sought him out in this desolate place. His eyes traced the carved glyphs within the ice, echoes of a forgotten tongue, yet all he could think of was the familiar symbol on his chest—the one that both burdened and defined him.The Arctic wind bit at Superman’s face, a clean, hard thing that steadied him as Athena’s words hung in the cold air. He felt the vibration of her voice more than heard it at first — a bright, impatient flare against the hush of the ice plains — and he let the calm that had always been his armor settle over him before he answered. He looked at Athena — at the set of her jaw, the way her hands flexed on the wind, the green of her eyes like glass struck by sunlight — and he let the facts, the smells, the weight of what happened in Avalon roll through him once more. The acrid taste of smoke, the copper tang in the air, the echo of stone breaking; the memory of the guard’s phone shattering in his palm. He recalled the hard, fast choices, and he did not soften them.
“I’ll tell you plainly,” he said, his voice low and even so the wind could carry nothing away. “When we hit that place there were layers to what was happening. There were women being kept as prisoners—collared, broken, places that hid them from sight. There were guards and enablers who were defending that system. And then there were the golems. They moved with force of Rorek’s will. I had a single, split-second objective at that moment: get people out alive with the fewest possible casualties.”
He paused, feeling the truth of the next words like a physical weight. “I prioritized immediate rescue. I got Lois out because she was in direct danger and I could reach her. That was not me choosing her worth over others— it was a tactical decision in a collapsing situation. After that, I fought to neutralize threats without killing. I destroyed weapons where I could, I incapacitated men rather than ending lives, and I worked to keep a path open for other rescues. Where I hesitated, it was because I was trying to avoid an escalation that would have killed more people.”
His blue eyes met hers, steady and unvarnished. “I regret where my timing failed. I regret any life lost where my presence might have made a difference. But I will not ever abandon the principle that taking a life makes us something less than what we fight for. Restraint can look like inaction, and that sometimes costs people. I accept that. I accept responsibility for my choices, and I’ll answer for them.”
He let that land, then added, quieter, almost pleading: “I also saw something else — manipulation. The video that’s tearing the world apart didn’t stop because I crushed the phone; it was amplified. Somebody wanted a picture of me that fit a story. I need you and others like you to help me get to the truth of who pushed that narrative, because the damage they’re doing isn’t just to me — it’s to the very idea of doing the right thing.”
Superman straightened, feeling resolve harden under his ribs like armor. “Talk to me. Ask everything you need. I’ll be honest. I’ll show you what I can. But understand this: I wanted to save every life in that situation. In the fog of that rescue I made choices to protect the most people I could in that instant. I won’t hide from that, and I won’t hide from you.”
Mood
