fandomhigh | Introductory Superhuman Physics, Period 4 [10-7]

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Introductory Superhuman Physics, Period 4 [10-7]

"When it comes to the matter of superhuman strength," Jean-Paul began his lecture today, "my options were many and varied. I finally decided, in the interests of fairness, on someone who is not a mutant." He turned on the projector. "Meet the Hulk. Horrible doses of radiation do not always kill; sometimes they turn you into an incredibly strong, tough being with the intellect of a tantrum-prone two-year-old. But I would not take the risk. The Hulk also poses a problem of mass I will not get into at this time. Curiously, the angrier the Hulk gets, the stronger he gets; this perhaps is tied to adrenaline production. No one really understands his biology. He can break tanks and support mountains on his back. Obviously, his muscle structure is very different from a normal human.

"But superstrength is not always caused by superhuman means. Consider the case of Liam Hoekstra, a child from Michigan in a mundane universe who, thanks to a genetic disorder, is capable of feats of strength and agility Olympic gymnasts would envy.

"Your assignment for today is to break into pairs and discuss some of the advantages and drawbacks of superstrength. Begin."

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Ben Skywalker

Teddy Altman

Viki

Peter Petrelli

Momoko Akatsutsumi

Johnny Storm

John Sheppard

Katina Choovanski

Francine Peters

Warren Peace

Gavin Darklighter

Take notes, pass notes, etc.

Ooh! Chemically attained powers? That was what had happened to her, so Momoko listened carefully. At first. It got harder as Mr. Beaubier continued to describe the attributes of the Hulk, and finally she just tried like heck to not laugh out loud. He was describing Buttercup to a "T"!

She snickered. Hey, the Hulk was even green!

Why does superstrength suck or not?

"Well... learning how much things can take kinda sucks," Teddy said, looking around.

"But once you learn the limits of something, you're done learning it. Unless you forget, and then its another mess to clean up. It sucks though, having to remember that you can do more than someone else, even when you're using the same stuff, and that you have to hold yourself back and act like everyone else."

Teddy nodded glumly. "And not do anything where someone could get hurt around you."

"Which is hard to do if you're used to being strong. Because you don't want to always have your brain turned on to 'be weak'." She shrugged. She only had moderately increased strength, but it was enough.

"And if other worlds are like mine? Things always seem to pop up that you can't avoid using your strength with - like they're targeting you. And you have to stay on your toes to fix things and you get really tired of thinking about it."

"Same with mine," Teddy replied. "There's no in between fighting and pretending to be normal."

"Yeah. Pretending is the suckiest part of powers." Momoko was quiet for a few moments, then smiled wryly. "But it feels really good to be able to do something someone else can't. Not in a bad way, like 'nyah-nyah lookie what I can do,' which does feel good, but only for a few minutes. But the 'hey, I did something for someone today' even if it's not saving someone from danger but just getting a car out of the street for someone or something. That part kind of makes you forget that you almost ripped the door off the hinges in the morning because you were running late."

Laughing, Teddy nodded. "Or broke a few beds. Or have to keep buying new shirts after the old ones get shredded."

"Myyyy powers include transformation, which gives me a uniform that is automatically tailored to fit me." Momoko grinned and stuck out her tongue. "But it was a bother when the uniforms were stolen once. Nothing else really worked as well, even though I don't change much in size or shape, so I can kind of understand what you mean."

"One of my friends made mine." A beat. "I wasn't a big fan of the scarf..."

"A... scarf? Were there also goggles and white leather boots?" Momoko groaned and rolled her eyes. "My friend's attempt at a replacement unform was a leotard with a sewn-in vest, but he also tricked it out with hidden pockets full of ninja gear, so I didn't complain too hard." Lie.

"...no goggles." Okay, so maybe he had wanted some. "But the pants and vest are leather."

A beat.

"Really?"

"Regular leather pants are almost always a good choice. That actually sounds like possibly a very nice looking uniform, if the colours are okay." Momoko nodded.

"And yep. Leotard. He said it was supposed to be reminiscent of some bygone glory days of old Japan or something. I stopped listening to him after a while. Really I think he just has bad fashion sense. The ninja gear came in really handy, though."

"Probably depends on if you can turn it off, or control it," Peter suggested.

"Control it?" Momoko frowned in confusion. "As in control your temper? Hold back on what strength you use?"

"Be able to adjust what you use," Peter explained. "Like how someone without powers doesn't hold an egg with the same power as they do a barbell."

"Ah. You mean like if the strength is in levels and instead of stopping at level 2, which is barbell strength, some people's strength may allow them to go to level 3, mountains? And it's all accessible by choice - like squeezing extra EXTRA hard?"

"Exactly," Peter said. "As long as you have that control, I think you're okay. But if you don't - well then you probably couldn't even touch people without being afraid you'd hurt them. That would definitely suck."

Momoko thought about that.

"You do kind of pull inside yourself a bit, yeah, depending on how strong you are. I'm not as strong as Kaoru, so I just get told I hit extra hard for a girl. She has to be way more careful. I guess that it would be different if you could just, say only be strong when you needed to open a jar or stop a falling elevator or hit a giant robot."

"I'm lucky," Peter said. "I have control over my strength. I'd hate to think of what it would be like if I couldn't hug my brother without worrying that I'm gonna hurt him."

"Oooh. So you can control your extra strength? Is it like a power-up? Do you have to do something consciously or is it automatic?"

"I have to think about it," Peter said. "But I had to work at it to get to that stage. Even now some of my powers I have no control over. They just happen if I want them to or not."

"So, you used to have super strength all the time, and now you've trained yourself to be normal unless you need it? Do you have to keep remembering to be normal and not use it?"

"No, my default is to assume normal." Peter gave a sheepish smile. "I'm told I need to cut that out, that it's better if I train myself to react like someone with powers. But if I concentrate I can call some of my powers up, like strength."

Momoko giggled. "I understand, but in reverse. I got my powers by accident just a few years ago, so I should have normal as my default, but I've always wanted to be a superhero, so I tend to act like I was born with them because I wish I was. I don't get told to act normal all the time only because people are used to me being manic about heroes and battling evil."

Francine nodded. "I'd like to be super-strong, but I'd hate to be like Wendy the Werewolf Stalker in that one college episode. Where she was trying to blend in again and the first thing she did was break the handle off the shake machine in the cafeteria?"

Momoko turned with an excited look in her eyes. "Ah? They've installed a shake machine in the cafeteria? When? Where? Is it still broke?"

Francine blinked once. "I don't think so?" Then grinned. "But they so should. One of those ones that has vanilla and chocolate and if you press the middle button you get 'em swirled together!"

"I know, right? With cones and not just those little bowls. When you said Wendy broke one, I thought maybe they had gotten one when I wasn't paying attention." Momoko tapped her chin. "Wendy... Wendy... Have I met her yet? Hmmm."

Edited 2008-10-08 03:21 (UTC)

"Huh?" Francine remembered the whole Japan-but-not thing a little belatedly. "Oh! No, it's a tv show. I guess you don't get it where you're from?""

"A tv show? No. I don't know it. There's a tv show about women breaking ice cream machines? ...and people watch it?"

Francine giggled. "She's a superhero with a secret identity, sort of. She hunts monsters. But she had to try to pretend to be normal at college."

He was here for the talking to.

Sorry it's so late! Some things came up. D:

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Introductory Superhuman Physics, Period 4 [10-7]

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