Advanced Criminal Justice, Class 9, Period 1, 02.07.06

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: This is, obviously, all about the events of last Friday. Tick only knows about Aeryn and Angel being involved due to the radio, and Alanna due to office hours. But she's not in this class. For everyone else, he's just making assumptions based on injuries, scratches, etc. So, really, the Support Team could end up completely under his radar. Ping me if you catch any continuity errors in this whole big thing. There shouldn't be any, but you never know).Class Info Post.]

The Tick was sitting at his desk when his students walked in. He was watching them all very carefully as they entered. Bruises, scrapes, bandages, arms in slings... It wasn't tough to figure out what half of his class had done last Friday. Lockheed sat on his shelf. He had the look of a snarky dragon who had been warned not to snicker at anyone today. To the students, he probably just looked disappointed.

After everyone had taken a seat, Tick stood up and began a lecture.

"First things first, the quizzes looked good. Be happ about that. Second, we do have a new police force in town. They seem well-trained. If you have information on the location of villains who have been kidnapping, assaulting, and generally scaring the bejeezus out of people, then egads, tell them! Tell our security officer! Tell me!"

"I had to get that disclaimer out of the way. Looking around the room, it's pretty clear that a lot of you spent some time on Friday engaging in vigilantism. I'm not going to say that's wrong. After all, I'm a superhero. In the Store of Euphemisms, if you go into the 'Vigilante' aisle, you'll find that 'Superhero' is the best seller and the most expensive product on the shelf. It's a shiny word. People like it. But all it does is describe someone who takes Justice into his own mighty blue hands with some style! It would be hypocritical of me to throw out a blanket statement on the Rightness or the Wrongness of hunting down villains! And yet, here we are."

"I could tell you that you have no right doing it. That you - well, most of you - are just kids, incapable of understanding what you tried to do. I could tell you that you didn't realize how much danger you were in. I could tell you that stuff, but I won't. I don't even believe any of that is true! Well, except for referring to you as 'kids,' and Angel gets a pass on that. Anyway! It's not that you didn't know, or didn't understand! The radio was talking about some mysterious 'study group' all week long, then referred to a study group again on Friday. You planned! You broke up into teams behind the two people I would pick if I were looking at an all-school superhero team! You were very smart about it!"

"You could have been smarter. See my earlier suggestions about alerting the town troopers or myself."

"We know the what, it looks like we know the who, we have a general idea of how, and obviously we know when. None of that concerns me right now since everyone is relatively okay. What concerns me is the why. Why did you do this? Why did you go out and risk your life? Why did you do that instead of alerting authority figures? Ask yourselves this. They're personal questions, so I can't ask you to share your answers with the class. If you'd like to, though, the floor is yours."

"Remember this, though. The why is the most important thing when it comes to vigilantism. The why is what separates Justice from Vengeance. If you truly did this in the name of Justice, because it was thwarting evil, because you felt deep down in your heart that it was Right, then I could probably tell you that I'm proud of you. If you did it for Vengeance, because these fiends made you angry, because you just plain wanted to kill some vampires... Well, then I hope you're able to learn something in this class."

"There is no mandatory discussion on this lecture today, but I do hope you'll be willing to share your thoughts with the class."

"This week's Metaphor of the Week is music."

"And this week's extra credit is an old favorite of mine. I think it's something we may need after the seriousness today. Bring in something whimsical for the class!"

"On Thursday, you'll receive an assignment for an essay. More info then, I'm just warning you now. And thank you for not getting yourselves nearly killed on the day of my class."

Comments

Talk [Class 9]

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

Have something to say? Say it!

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

Angel stood up. This caused some wincing as his chest wasn't healed yet.

"Sir, where I come from those in authority are the evil ones. Which is actually kind of helpful since the mayor built that vamp-friendly sewer system. But you wouldn't go to them for help in trying to save lifes.

"That's what this was about. I couldn't let more people get hurt or killed when I knew I could do something to stop it."

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"I completely understand that, Angel. But where you come from and where you are now are different places. You should remember that," Tick said. There was a slight smile on his face. "There are plenty of people who would have been willing to help. And I'm not just talking about your classmates."

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

Okay when Sam saw that the class was "Advanced Criminal Justice", he didn't expect to come into class and see that the teacher was a guy in blue tights.

And dressed like a tick. A blue tick.

We won't go into the whole metaphor thing.

So if Sam... er... Marty is staring at The Tick with his mouth hanging open, that's why.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Are you feeling okay, Marty?" Tick asked.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge frowns thoughtfully as he watches Marty and the Tick's conversation. As Marty leaves the room, Bridge takes off a glove and scans him. Good thing everyone's looking at Marty and not him.

When Marty comes back into the classroom, Bridge quickly scribbles a note and slides it over to him.

Can I talk to you after class?

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[cameronmitchell.livejournal.com]

Cameron was quiet for a moment as he considered Tick's words. He'd like to say that what he did was just for Justice, but if that were the case he might have gone to the troopers.

"Can't vengeance and justice help each other along, sir?"

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Apples and Oranges, chum. They have some things in common, and they could even grow on the same farm. If you're looking for a healthy fruit to combat lawlessness, then either one could work. But the Apple of Vengence has a worm, and that worm has a knife!"

"Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

"Someo- people I care about needed my help, you really think I should've turned them down?"

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I said anything of the sort, Callisto," Tick said. "But that answers the question I did ask. Giving help to people you care about usually falls under Right."

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[janet_fraiser]

Janet had a very bad hangover migraine. Bright light was bad. Sound was bad. Movement was also bad. So she sat there very, very quietly.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker is fidgeting, and trying to pull the collar of her sweater up to hide the scrapes on her chin, since there's no way to hide the claw marks on her face.

"What if we reported our concerns to the administration, and we didn't see any progress? What then? The attacks by two of these vampires starteed *weeks* ago, and even after Tex restored some order, there were still people who were attacked. If the authorities aren't effective, don't other people have an obligation to step up?"

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

Tick was getting frustrated at this point. "Egads, people! If you did it for the right reasons, if you did it to help others, or because you felt an obligation, then I think you did the RIGHT THING! I've said this several times now."

"But this is the kind of thing that I-Club was set up for, isn't it, Parker? The vampires have been part of the I-Club itinerary since the beginning. I don't understand how you could get it to that point and not use the resources you had available thanks to the club."

The Tick was talking primarily about himself when he mentioned the resources. This point may be clear by now.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[can_be_more]

"No one did anything," says Aeryn. "People were getting threatened, or hurt, and I never heard anything about investigations into the matter, or that any of these new troopers did anything to stop it. Tex only just become mayor, or maybe I would have gone to her before we did anything. The administration did nothing. People were afraid to go into town and we were tired of seeing our friends get hurt because no one else could apparently be bothered."

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"There is an Investigator's Club that you were a part of last semester. That most of you were or still are a part of. If you had information, you could have brought it up there."

"But once again, I. Am. Proud. of what you all did. Leading teams into battle like that was brave."

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[fates_jaye]

Jaye does not does not does not look slightly superior. AT ALL.

But *sing-songy* everyone else is getting yelled aaaaaat...

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[oatmanspatient.livejournal.com]

Sam wonders why he has the strange urge to throw money at the girl who has a superior look on her face.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam was also wincing slightly from the bright lights. The lecture didn't help, especially the part where she was referred to as a kid.

"I think it was very brave of those people involved to step in when no one else would. Obviously the law didn't apply to them the same way it does to the rest of us, or they wouldn't have been on the street. However, according to Professor Lyman and the Magna Carta, no person should be above the stompy foot of Justice. It took people acting outside the law to stop them."

So far, the Professor wasn't looking at her during his lecture. That was probably a good thing.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory nodded along with Sam. "With Angel along, the group had a tactical advantage that the authorities - who, as Aeryn and Parker said, weren't doing anything - didn't. Or wouldn't have had. And both groups had their backs covered as well from our home base."

Oops. He probably didn't know that part....

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

Archie's eyes widened slowly over the course of the Tick's lecture as things suddenly all fell into place for him. When it was his opportunity to speak up, he stood deliberately at attention, hands behind his back.

"Sir, I have nothing to say here save that I applaud my fellow students for their bravery, berate them for their impulsiveness, and express my most sincere gratitude that they are all still alive."

With a nod and a glance around at the members of the "study group," he sat back down and remained silent for the rest of the period.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin was finding the top of his desk absolutely fascinating.

If Obi-Wan were inclined to speak in High Metaphor and wear blue spandex--well, other than that one time on that planet that they had both sworn to forget about--this would've been the lecture he would've delivered.

Anakin glanced around the room and realized that with his shoulder hidden under his robes, there was no way for Professor Tick to know that he had been involved at all.

But he should probably own up to what he did. It wasn't like he wasn't proud of it. Except for that last confrontration with Drusilla...he shoved that out of his head.

"They had been hurting innocent beings," Anakin began, glancing for just a second at Rory. "Students. Children. The local authorities were either unaware or unable to cope with the problem." He paused. "This is the sort of thing that Jedi are for. To confront problems that seem too big for someone else to handle. To provide justice." He made eye contact with the professor. "And I was asked to. I wasn't going to watch my friends go off into a dangerous situation when I've had training that might keep some of them safe."

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge listens to the lecture and frowns thoughtfully. Traditionally, Rangers had always just fought Evil on their own, with very little outside help. So he really hadn't thought there was anything *wrong* with the way the 'study group' had organised.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[aka-vala.livejournal.com]

Vala sat there watching Cam and the others get called out by Professor The Tick. It wasn't as satisfying as it might have been, considering -- she had to admit -- she was more upset about how they'd gone about it and that they hadn't included her.

To distract herself she watched Marty act... oddly. Huh. And he was always trying to figure out what was up with the Colorado crowd???

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

Veronica doodled on her tablet as she listened to Professor Tick's lecture and the subsequent conversations. There were a lot of things she could say about the whole situation, but she didn't say any of them.

Re: Talk [Class 9]

[fh_jackass]

"I didn't do it for Vengance," Logan said. He considered what the others had said, and decided most of the important points had been covered, so he just added, "It needed to be done."