The war against crime is too big for any one man.  Even a man fully dedicated to the task can only punch, kick, beat, gouge, choke and stab but so many people.   Taking a step back and reviewing the situation in a dispassionate way leads us to the inevitable conclusion that we must work together with like minded individuals to achieve our goal of eradicating crime.  What is a “like minded” person?  The answer can only be;  “a person who thinks like me”.  That might seriously limit my ability to find allies.  I notice that I tend to think differently than others.  This has lead me to look more closely at others who I might otherwise dismiss as potential allies.  Taking a second look, I broaden my view in an attempt to find shared points where our seemingly different points of view may intersect.  This is what I have come to term an ally of “common ground”. 

It made sense to me to think in terms of  extremes in order to find the boundaries of my new way of thinking and define the perimeter of this sphere of  “common ground”.   This lead my thinking, quite naturally, to Mother Theresa.  What is our point of intersection?  Though our modalities of aid reflect different approaches, Mother Theresa and I share a common interest in helping people.  I accomplish this through acts of savage and extreme violence against criminal scum, and she accomplishes this through...well, basically helping people.  Being as we both share that intense desire to help those who are good, it’s logical to assume that we also share that intense desire to make those who are not good suffer.  Given her life experience, the odds of her having received training in hand to hand combatives are remote.  This style of unarmed combat fell out of favor following the Korean War.  Even if she had served in the military, combat roles were still denied to women at that time.  I harbor no resentment towards her for her combat ineffectiveness, as she is a victim of historical circumstances. Opportunities to seek out combative training for tiny foreign women in Calcutta were probably negligible, as India has a history of such training necessitating tribal connections to “secret” or “protected” knowledge being handed down from father to son.  Again I don’t blame her.   

Looking elsewhere to define the outer limits of this sphere of interconnectedness, my thoughts turned to the Pope.  The Pope would certainly have the resources necessary to aid in my war.  Does he have the necessary mindset?  Well, he has a private army, which tells me, that he “gets” it.  The Swiss Guard are famous for their use of Halberds, a weapon capable of inflicting particularly gruesome wounds.  A post mortem examination of the skeletal remains of Richard III showed that the killing blow was from the spike of a Halberd to the base of his skull.  The Pope is an educated man, and no doubt a student of history.  Again, he “gets” it.  I have written him several letters and I am still waiting for a response.  Popes travel more than they used to so it is not a surprise I haven’t reached him yet, but I have a good feeling about him as an eventual ally. 

The Pope being, in a sense, the cop of morality (and the world in this analogy, his precinct) I started thinking about the cop on the beat.  Their policing is less concerned with the soul and more concerned with the immediate and physical.  Cops hate criminals.  Their methods are effective, but slow.  The whole process of retribution is played out over a long period of time in the legal system.  I believe this lack of efficiency is largely due to the unions.  For the cop on the beat, earning a paycheck and supporting his family is an unfortunate distraction.  Government systems are unnecessarily complex by design.

Meta-Humans are made by the government and thus part of this complex “Government System”.  Money is not the main consideration of the meta-human, but money is only one focus of government power.  Control is another.  Meta-humans fall under this particular objective of government power.  This control is like giant meta-human handcuffs placed on the “hero” who would otherwise be free to beat, maim, obliterate, and otherwise eliminate criminal scum.

I need a soda.  I stopped taking my medication when, through research and meditation, I discovered that my neuro-receptors were approximately five times more active than what is considered average.  I find several glasses of Coca Cola and some Advil are more than enough to stimulate my nerves and help shake off the lethargy that sometimes afflicts me and slows my mind down.  I’m not certain of the exact science, as my grasp of these things is more intuitive than learned, but I know what works.

I should call Black Jack, I feel like going on patrol.  I got a new pair of “brass knuckles” that are actually a super hard plastic (a “space age polymer” according to the guy in Chinatown).  Black Jack is a good guy and he never judges me.  I've noticed sometimes that he doesn't always seem as happy as I do when we’re hurting people.  I’m worried he might be depressed.  I try to help him, but “people skills” are not necessarily my strong suit.  Still, we make a great team.  Much common ground there.

Why there isn't a John  Q Public comic is beyond me.