NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="DM_Matt" data-source="post: 4448017" data-attributes="member: 1213">The speeches seem to be received well...the crowd seems moved.  Its hard to tell of course, since this is a funeral, not a political rally.  People aren't really supposed to give much response, other tan crying.  Lady Liberty speaks next. "I did not know Thessaly that well, and I thank all of you for your moving words.  From the short time I knew her, I saw a hero.  She was not only concerned with protecting the innocent or bringing the guilty to justice...vigilantes and even bounty hunters can have those qualities -- but above all she wanted to do that in the RIGHT WAY.  She never took a life, even though she had one particular power -- which she virtually never used -- that could do so quite efficiently.  It always hurts to lose someone so young, and it is all the more tragic considering the future she certainly had waiting for her.  It pains me to imagine those who will not be saved with her gone.Tragic as her death was, it did not merely happen.  It was an intentional act -- by a second-rate terrorist armed by Barrington and his crew with weapons he never should have had access to.  Barrington has become popular in many parts of the world.  Even in Freedom City, he has his supporters.  Some of them are across the street, and can hear this on the loudspeakers.  Allow me for a moment to talk about freedom...As an incarnation of liberty itself, I know a thing or two about this.  I say this to his supporters --Barrington says he offers you progress and freedom from oppression.  But he does not.  He lies.  He offers you indentured servitude in return for his gifts.  Look at the lands that support Barrington.  Those that flocked to his banner were generally not free in the first place and are no more free now.  He counts on your gratitude to make you lay down your lives for his cause, sometimes directly, sometimes through host governments.  He takes advnatage of poverty and desparation to buy loyalty on the cheap.  Many have done this.  Hamas and Hezbollah built their quasi-states using this very strategy, and their people are no better off from it -- and certainly no more free.You might think that the technologies he offers grant you freedom, but instead they offer you servitude in his armies.  Even when you yourself are not forced into battle, others are fighting, and many are suffering.  Many -- like Thessaly -- are being killed by Barington's armies.  Do not think that you are free when our freedom is fueled by the killing and bullying of others.  You are merely trading your own misfortunes for far greater misfortunate for other people.  When you accept Barrington;s aid, when you join his cause, when you volunteer for his humanitarian efforts, you are in fact oppressing others.  You may have more comfort for your bodies but your souls belong to him.To those supporters here and in other areas not allied with Barrington, I implore you to consider his deeds and his allies.  Why is it that supervillains, terrorists, and dictators worldwide have welcomed him, while free peoples are skeptical?  Why are his right-hand men an insane child who likes to smash cities with giant robots and a former KGB Superagent?  Why did his first public act involve taking most of the Freedom League as hostage, whom he has still not yet released.Thessaly is but one of his many victims, and there will be so many more until he is stopped -- both among his enemies, and those who follow him.  Listen to what all have said today about her.  Then imagine the funerals of each and every person that Barrnigton has killed, or soon will.  Some will not even get funerals.  Many who perished at the hands of Barrington-backed forces in Arfica the last two weeks have mostly been dumped unceremoniously in mass graves, unmarked and unknown to their loved ones.  Do not allow there to be more funerals lie this one.  Do not allow any more young lives to end so tragically."Just then, Barrington himself appears in the aisle.  Then the guns come out.  The two guards at the front of the church open their coats and draw a gun in each hand, drawing and firing in the blink of an eye.  Harriman's sniper rifle blasts off too.  Black, in the audience, draws but is quick enough to not fire as soon as he sees the even faster church guards try it.  Slower or less eager guards and police draw down on him too.  Optic can see that this Barrington is a holographic projection from somewhere, but the others cannot.  Bullets go right through him.  Fortunately, only walls are wounded.  "What wonderful words.  I'm just here to pay my respects" he says "...and express my regret for this tragic accident. The purpose of that mission was to free heroes unjustly improsoned...it was only a tragic fluke that Thessaly was slain in an accident involving non-lethal weaponry."</blockquote>

Verification