To: Brook Haupenstaat
Subject: Welcome to the club!
Dear Brooklyn,
We are currently in the process of reviewing the data you sent us regarding your specialized knowledge about your sister, Chelsea Haupenstaat.
Good news! Your paperwork is complete! We will contact you within 8-12 business days with further information and instructions. In the meantime, please look over the attached literature to better understand how you can do your part to protect the safety and privacy of your sister.
If you have any questions or would like more information, don’t hesitate to email us at secretkeepers@nsc.org, or call the National Super Hotline any time, day or night, and ask to be put through to a SecretKeeper representative.
Thank you for doing your part.
Attached: welcometotheclub.pdf
Welcome to the club!
If you are reading this, it’s probably because you have recently learned that someone in your life is a super. Maybe it’s someone you’ve known forever, or maybe it’s someone you just met last week. Maybe you’ve always known there’s something special about this person, or maybe they seemed completely ordinary until the moment you learned about their powers. Whatever the situation is, you now know that this person is different—and you probably have a lot of questions.
Questions like:
What is a super?
How did this person become a super?
Is it dangerous to be around this person?
Why didn’t s/he tell me about these powers?
Why do supers keep their identities secret?
What do I do now?
What a lot of questions! Let’s take them one at a time.
Q: What is a super?
A: According to the NSC definition, a super is any individual capable of performing a feat, unaided by technology, that would have been considered outside the bonds of human capability before the Great Awakening in 1978. Many very different skills are contained in this definition—everything from causing broken bones to mend with a thought to launching energy flares that can light up the night sky as bright as noon! Some supers have big, showy powers that are hard to disguise, while others can do things so subtle that you might never notice them (things like x-ray vision, or altering sound vibrations so it’s impossible to sing off-key around them). But something that all supers have in common is that underneath what they can do they are ordinary people, with loves and fears and dreams—just like the rest of us.
Q: How did this person become a super?
A: Nobody knows why supers began appearing the world just after the Great Awakening—or even what the Great Awakening is! (There are theories, of course. Spend some time hanging out at the NSC—National Super Council—website, and you can read a whole page full of different theories!) There’s a lot we don’t know. But we do know that people who become supers generally develop their powers as teenagers, around the time when their bodies are going through puberty. This can often be a scary time for them. If you know somebody who is still in the early stages of being a super, make sure to give them all the love and support you can.
Q: Is it dangerous to be around this person?
A: Probably not. Nearly all supers can control their powers, and most supers have abilities that can only help the people around them. There are a few exceptions, but the supers who pose a threat to society are identified very early on by the NSC and kept in protective custody until the NSC leadership is 100% sure that they won’t hurt anybody. If there are any safety concerns about your super friend, the NSC will be in immediate contact to let you know how to stay safe around him or her.
Sidebar: That’s not fair! Some people object to the NSC keeping dangerous supers in custody, claiming that this is a violation of their rights as citizens. In 1987 the so-called “Freedom defenders” rallied around the case of Baby Bobby, an adorable toddler who had caused the deaths of three caregivers prior to his arrival at NSC headquarters by causing blood vessels in their brains to burst during his temper tantrums. Baby Bobby’s “defenders” took the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that a super who poses a danger to himself and others may be taken into protective custody—no matter how kind, gentle-natured and mentally stable he might be. Baby Bobby grew up in a special environment where he and the people around him were kept safe all the times, and when he became an adult he thanked the NSC for all it had done over the years to protect and care for him.
Q: Why didn’t this person tell me about their powers?
A: Chances are, they weren’t allowed to. For a number of reasons, most supers choose to register as incognitos. This means that nobody outside of a select few people know that they are supers. Even though supers make this choice freely, once a super has chosen to be an incognito, they must then follow special rules to keep their powers secret. Your friend is almost certainly an incognito super.
Q: Why do supers keep their identities secret?
A: Many people have falsely believed that supers keep their identities secret because they are ashamed of them, or because they want to break the law without getting caught. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Think about movie stars. You probably have a favorite movie star, and you know all sorts of things about that person’s personal life. Have you seen magazines with pictures of that person trying to shoo away photographers on the sidewalk, or read stories about him or her renting a whole tropical island for vacation—just to get away from all the reporters? Many of the “out” supers (the ones who don’t choose to be incognito) complain that they can hardly do their jobs because of all the attention they receive from the press. Also, many supers fear that if their identities were known, their loved ones would be targets for any evil individuals who might want to blackmail a super into doing bad things. But don’t think supers with secret identities are above the law. The NSC keeps close tabs on all of them—and the NSC has your safety as a top priority!
Q: What do I do now?
A: The most important thing for you to do is to keep your friend’s secret safe. This means not telling anyone that you know about this person’s power. Think about it. If you told two other people, and they told two other people, pretty soon this person’s identity wouldn’t be a secret anymore. You need to let this person know that you care for them, and prove that you understand how important a secret identity is. Don’t be afraid to ask questions—in a private setting, of course! And remember—your friend is still your friend. No superpowers can change that.
(Brook's inbox is bustling these days.)
