“Come on, Bella, come to Mommy,” Lena cooed as she squatted on the floor, holding out her arms for the precocious and precious light of her life, the little princess, Isabella Sophia Dante Porthos. She didn’t know she had a big name or a big legacy, and right now the little mite was toddling with a ferocious concentration as her chubby little thighs waddled to and fro across the carpet in an attempt to speed her way into her mama’s arms.
Once she got there, Lena scooped her up and whirled her around the room, spinning and spinning until the light lingering scent of baby powder was in the air, and Bella and Lena were both caught up in absolute fits of giggles. Lena nuzzled her nose against the dark brown tufts of fuzzy hair as she cradled her daughter close. The terrible twos had not yet become terrible, but she was holding tight to every sweet moment she had.
Isabella cooed as Gabri stepped into the room, lighting up for her papa in a way that brought a true lightness to Lena’s soul. Lena could feel her husband behind her, even as he engulfed the two of them in his arms, intentionally rubbing the whiskers of his beard against the tender skin of her neck before plucking their daughter from her arms and tossing her into the air, only to catch her, time and time again.
Lena peppered them both with kisses, lingering on her husband, as she reluctantly pulled herself away. With one last kiss for Gabri, and a final nuzzle for Isabella, Lena gathered her purse, her phone, and her keys, and was out the door.
It was time to get back to work.
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She shook her arms and danced from foot-to-foot in the small anteroom. It had been over two years since the dignified Dante had stood behind a podium and addressed the press. In those two-plus years she had quietly gotten married and given birth to one of the lights of her life, Isabella. And then Achilles had requested she come work for him, and the introduction of dangerous legislation had pulled her from her hiatus.
She had meticulously chosen the venue. The Corcoran Ballroom of the Washington, D.C. Four Seasons hotel. She wanted it known that she would fight D.C. on their doorstep if she had to, and that she was willing to knock down doors.
The crowd was full of reporters. Trusted journalists she had worked with for years. Contacts she had established. Papers she respected. Friends and occasional foes alike were here. She didn’t see eye to eye with everybody in the press crowd today, but she didn’t need to. She knew that they would carry the message far and wide.
Lena had prided herself on saying much without needing many words. Conciseness was a skill, and she had turned it into an art. Give them enough to get their stories, but not too much to twist your context. Enough to inform, but not so much that they could distort.
Today was not a day for conciseness. Today was a day where anger was boiling just below her skin at the audacity of a small handful of Congresspeople to try and neuter the very groups that kept their constituents alive when the government itself had failed at every turn.
And so she squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, wiped her palms against the black silk of her pencil skirt, and she did one last check of the white silk blouse. No spots. She’d miraculously managed not to spill coffee on it and - nope, one last check and definitely no baby spit-up either.
Lena shook off the rust and strode out to the podium.
The moment she stepped onto the dais lights flashed and cameras clicked. She had forgotten the moment of discombobulation that always followed.
“I am here today, unfortunately, to discuss H.R. 3911, commonly referred to as the “End Vigilante Justice Act” and otherwise known as the “Superhuman Surveillance Act.”
“As had been mentioned previously, this bill is recklessly dangerous and if passed, will frankly result in the death of untold citizens. You’re used to me prettying things up a bit, but that’s not what we’re here to do today.”
“As it currently stands, so-called vigilantes have less ability to track and surveil you than your government does, all while doing a far better job of protecting you, in ways that the United States government has - and continues to - fail at.”
“We are all well aware of the various security scandals that the US government has had. The NSA alone has had more than its fair share. Lets not pretend that the US government does not track its citizens locations, their day-to-day lives, uses home devices to listen in to assumed-private conversations, and on occasion tap phones in ways that are in violation of the Constitution. The government has been taken to federal court or had whistleblower leaks attesting to all of the above. They do all of this and more. People have justified this and reasoned it away as the price you pay for safety, for liberty, for freedom. But the government has not been able to provide any measure of safety, and they have sold your liberty and your freedom to the highest bidder. The united states government is not altruistic. It does not have the best wishes or the safety of its citizens in its heard. It is cold, cruel, and callous, and this bill is just further proof of that."
“At some point in time, you could have justified this to yourself. Yes, your own government is violating your privacy, but they are doing it in your best interests, for your own protection. Benjamin Franklin once said: ‘Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.’ And surely enough, you will wind up with neither if this bill is allowed to progress."
“The US government has failed its citizens time and time again,” she said furiously, with a deep ache in her heart, gripping the edge of the podium until the wood dug into the soft skin of her palms. The government was supposed to be for the people, by the people, but it had become a pale shadow of what was intended by the forefathers, one that was altogether ineffective at protecting its citizens."
“Gothic City has been razed numerous times. It was abandoned by the government, left to become a sovereign city-state, and then reabsorbed after it had been run dry of all resources, its population faced with vast decimation, and all of its infrastructure destroyed. Gothic became a no man’s land ruled by metahuman terrorist factions, such as Satar. After being reabsorbed into the United States, Congress refused to pass robust aid packages for a city in dire need. This made it ripe for Grimmwald, who enacted the Purge. The government was silent, conveniently turning a blind eye while Gothic suffered yet again. Too ashamed to acknowledge its role in this tragedy, and too self-interested to do anything meaningful in terms of setting it right.”
Lena made eye contact with Taylor King as she said this. Taylor was a native of Gothic. She had been born there, grew up in its streets, had witnessed it become a shining new city on the cusp of a golden age, only to be razed to the ground. She refused to leave during the worst of it, instead reporting dispatches from the embattled city-state through the worst of it. She carried the scars, both physical and mental, that proved this. And her lips were pursed in fury as she nodded in agreement, and Lena knew without doubt she was on the right track.
“Gothic is not close to the only instance of this. When Zedracus attacked Ethulasia he brought extraterrestrial forces to this planet. These forces were not detected by any of the world’s governments prior to making entry into our airspace. And as they ported into our atmosphere, they complete decimated the little town of Ethulasia. The immediate response was not by our government, but by the “vigilante” forces that this bill seeks to weaken."
“More recently, when Grimm City, now known as Valor City was decimated by Ada Guillaime and her forces, the US government was nearly, if not entirely, absent.”
“At every turn the United States government has proven ineffective at best and callously criminally negligent at worst. They now seek to strip one of the most effective ways of gathering intelligence for the heroes that do they work they are unwilling and incapable of doing. The continued lack of action to protect its citizens should be a great and continuing shame of the US government. And this bill, which for all intents and purposes is yet another death warrant from the government, should never be passed.”
“I’ll take questions now.”
By the time things wound down over an hour later, her calves ached, as did the small of her back, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up with her daughter and husband. But she had waded back into the deep end, and there was work to be done before rest was to be had.
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