Jo Kent/Supergirl (maidofmight) wrote,
@ 2011-02-07 19:15:00

A lesson in Ethics (Test Scene)
Jo Kent was not a mean-spirited girl by nature; she was friendly, if a bit sarcastic at times. Dad said she got it from Mom and Mom agreed. Still, she was kind to her friends and it usually took a lot to anger or upset her...unless someone attacked her friends.

Veronica and Violet Poulsen made Jo exceptionally angry.

The Poulsen twins were Metropolis High School's most popular Freshmen girls and they'd both decided to run for President and Vice-President of the student council. Both are straight-A students, Honor Society Members, and school cheerleading team, aka "The Spirit Squad". It was a lot like Barbie finding out she wasn't annoying enough on her own and cloning herself right down to the hair. The two drop-dead gorgeous blonds wouldn't bother Jo any other day of the year, except that they'd started picking on Jo's friend Jenna, who was also running for Student Council. The minor harassment began a three weeks ago when a lot of Jenna's campaign flyers "just happened" to vanish after she and Jenna spent an hour posting them around school. Then, the flyers got reposted, except Jenna's picture had been altered in all of them, giving her the head of a donkey.

The intimidation started two weeks ago when the Spirit Squad started in with barely veiled insults about Jenna and Jo. Even then, Jo was more angry about the harassment of her friend than herself. Jo didn't need these girls approval for anything, but people were starting to talk behind Jenna's back and that would hurt her at the polls.

Last week, a racial slur managed to find its way onto Jenna's locker and inside her locker each day after that.

That was the last straw.

It had taken the better part of the week to catch them in the act, but Jo hit paydirt early one morning when she caught a group of girls opening Jenna's locker. They had the combination, instantly alerting Jo that they'd had help from an aid in the Principal's office. There weren't many aides in the office during the day; Jo was one of them and she knew the other three, all of whom happened to be on the Spirit Squad. She'd whipped out her camera phone to record the incident and then dashed away before they could see her. Super-speed often came in handy, though she wished she could fly like her dad and brother.

Now, Jo sat at home on her laptop going over the file on her laptop, looking over the candid shots of each girl as they wrote out the slur on Jenna's locker in nail-polish, then sprinkled it with glitter. The thought of going WikiLeaks on these bitches was so overpowering that she nearly hit the send button, but something her father said made Jo's finger hover over the button.

Two wrongs don't make a right, Jo. No matter what the first wrong was, you can't make it equal by doing wrong yourself.

Damn, she really missed her father.

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reporterofsteel
2011-02-08 05:04 am UTC (link)

Jo wasn't the only one who missed Clark and though it was a bit petty, Lois found that she missed him most when it was the ordinary things he used to do that she suddenly had to do herself. Hauling in groceries was one such ordinary thing and Lois was carrying in a couple of heavy sacks when she passed Jo in the kitchen, her laptop open, a look of consternation and irritation mixed on her face.

Lois knew this face; it was practically a mirror.

"What are you working on?"

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	maidofmight 2011-02-08 05:07 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, nothing." Jo says, getting up to help her mother with the groceries. Jo takes all of the bags from her mother, leaving her laptop open where it was. Jo is still getting used to heavy bags like this weighing nothing in her arms. She could probably pick up Mom's car right about now, but she wouldn't actually do it unless needed. "How was the store?" Jo asks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	reporterofsteel 2011-02-08 05:10 am UTC (link)
	"It was the store. You know the drill, clerk looks at me weird when I bring three carts into the line." Lois shrugged and smiled, grateful for the help. She is about to go help her put things away when she notices what is pulled up on the laptop. "What's this about, Jo?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	maidofmight 2011-02-08 05:12 am UTC (link)
	"It's nothing, Mom. It's something for school." she says. It /is/ the truth from a certain point of view, though she knows deep down that neither of her parents would ever let that logic slide. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

reporterofsteel
2011-02-08 10:18 pm UTC (link)

Lois paused and looked at the computer screen for a moment. Many years of journalism had taught Lois a lot of things. Being perceptive was one of those things. This wasn't just a school project. She stepped away from the computer and went over to her daughter, helping her take things out of bags.

"Now why don't you tell me what it's really about?"

Clark had been the one with x-ray vision, but there were times when the Kent kids might think their mother had an x-ray mind.

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maidofmight
2011-02-08 11:00 pm UTC (link)

There were lots of days that Jo believed her mother really did have superpowers. She sighs, but doesn't say anything for a minute. This could go really badly any second.

"Remember how I said Jenna was running for Freshman Council? Well, these other girls are running, too, but they're using dirty tactics. They've messed up her flyers, started trash talking her and now...some of their friends are defacing her locker with racial slurs. I've done some more digging and found an article that you wrote exposing their mother as taking sweetheart deals from land developers." Jo says.

"I can help Jenna and get embarrass these girls so badly that they'll never pick on anyone else." Jo says. "That's what I'm working on, Mom."

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

reporterofsteel
2011-02-10 12:33 pm UTC (link)

Lois listens as her daughter explains, nodding as she recalls the article she wrote. Jo's heart is in the right place; her method isn't quite there.

"What you are intending is admirable; you're seeing injustice and you want to do something about it but what it looks like is that you're going about this the wrong way. Embarrassing them only makes you--and Jenna--look bad. But if you expose them in a factual manner, you bring them to light in a way that doesn't compromise your own credibility."

She smiles a bit.

"And it's more honest. "

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	maidofmight 2011-02-10 02:22 pm UTC (link)
	"But Mom, I /do/ have facts. I've got video of their friends defacing Jenna's locker and your article about their parents. I don't understand what you mean." Jo says. "I mean, I could totally go WikiLeaks on these girls. Not actually /WikiLeaks/, but I could at least put the information somewhere everyone can see it so they can make their own decisions." she says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	reporterofsteel 2011-02-10 02:25 pm UTC (link)
	"What I'm trying to say is that there are ways of doing things that have a better impact and make you look credible instead of vindictive. Ask yourself...how does Julian Assange come off in the media?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

maidofmight
2011-02-10 04:28 pm UTC (link)

"Like a major-league jerk." Jo says, sighing. "But Mom, if he didn't take those risks, how would we get the information we need? No one is going to be completely honest unless it benefits them." she says.

"I just want these people to stop hurting my friend, Mom. I don't know what else to do that doesn't involve using what I can do." she says sadly.

"I bet Dad never had this problem. Jon probably doesn't, either. And people get scared when your name gets brought up."

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reporterofsteel
2011-02-10 04:38 pm UTC (link)

"There's an issue of the school paper that is coming out before the election, correct?" Lois looked at her daughter carefully. "Julian Assange is a major-league jerk and yes, he has taken those risks, but he's not the only source for that information. He just happens to be the guy who disseminated it in the most ass way possible. What about Robert Novak over at the Washington Post? He did that piece that contained information that ended a spy's career--not that I agree with how that worked, but that was a professional and articulate use of information. Same with the Watergate reporting.

Jo, it's easy to expose things bright and loud and make yourself look vindictive. It takes ethics, skill, and decency to do it with intellect and in a way that stands up to public scrutiny. This isn't about gossip with your friend; this is about exposing people for systematic bad behavior and letting people decide for themselves."

Lois smiles.

"Your Dad dealt with this all the time. He wasn't a god, Jo. He struggled all the time with finding the balance. We broke up once over it. He was constantly trying to find his way. He was human, even if he was an alien from another planet. Now, as for people being afraid of me...yeah, that I can see."

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	maidofmight 2011-02-10 04:54 pm UTC (link)
	"Okay, so how do you handle people who were basically made of teflon? Even with what I recorded this morning before school, I still don't have proof that the Poulsen twins put those girls up to this." Jo says. "You and Dad really broke up over him being Superman? Did you get hurt or somethig?" she asks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

reporterofsteel
2011-02-10 05:01 pm UTC (link)

"You talk to the girls who did do this. You don't threaten them, but you let them know that they did this. Most people--especially teenage girls--cave when some sort of punnishment is involved. Last I checked vandalization can get you suspended and disqualified from any student team or organization," Lois says.

"No, I didn't get hurt. I dumped him because he didn't get the balance right. For awhile he was all about Superman and saving the world before anything else so much so that I could have been screaming his name and he never would have heard me. It wasn't a pretty time for either of us."

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	maidofmight 2011-02-10 05:16 pm UTC (link)
	"But Dad is /always/ there for you, Mom. Wow. I guess I just can't imagine the two of you not being together. It's like finding out the sun didn't go down for awhile." Jo says. "That's a good idea. I know a couple of the girls on the team aren't bad people, but they don't choose their friends very well, either." she says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

reporterofsteel
2011-02-10 05:19 pm UTC (link)

"I've gotten most of my best information simply by approaching people with what I already know and having them fill in the blanks. It's tried and true and it doesn't mislead people. It's a fine line, but it works. And as for your father and I, there was a time, Jo. There was a time when the weight of being Superman nearly crushed him. He shut out his friends, he shut out me, he shut out everything. That quote, with great power comes great responsibility, is true. And it's something that we both had to learn.

"Clearly it worked out, though. I managed to have you and Jon and still keep my liver in the right place with all your damn kicking." She grinned. She always gave them a hard time for that.

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	maidofmight 2011-02-10 07:20 pm UTC (link)
	"Hey, we showed that liver who was boss." Jo teases. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	reporterofsteel 2011-02-10 07:23 pm UTC (link)
	"Hush. You may be stronger than me but I know where all your ticklish spots are, girlie." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	maidofmight 2011-02-11 01:51 am UTC (link)
	"Not fair! I can at least try to run away from you when you try it." Jo smiles. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	reporterofsteel 2011-02-11 01:56 am UTC (link)
	"When has that ever actually worked for you?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	maidofmight 2011-02-11 02:15 am UTC (link)
	"Hey, I just have to make sure I'm across the state before you come at me with the hands." Jo laughs. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	reporterofsteel 2011-02-11 02:19 am UTC (link)
	"And again, that really has never worked for you or your brother. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm part Kryptonite. There was that one time when I was kidnapped by Lex Luthor..." (Reply to this)(Parent)

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