To say Emerson was nervous would be like saying a jet engine was loud. While it was true, it grossly undersold the experience. Despite his pep talk from Skull-Mania, the former supervillain was still worried about this interview. He was especially worried as he stood in the metal detectors and went through round after round of security checks. It was possible that wearing his costume to the interview was a bad idea, but he needed to look striking if he wanted to have a lasting impact on the audience.

  After a solid hour of getting checked for weapons, gadgets, illegal materials, and so on, he was finally let back stage. The camera and technicians were surprisingly relaxed in his presence. They probably were used to heroes and other costumed individuals doing interviews before, he realized.

  He felt a tap on his shoulder, drawing him from his thoughts as he spun around. Diana was there waiting with him for her cue to head to the main stage. “I’m glad you could make it. Did the security give you trouble?” She likely already knew the answer.

  Still, Emerson played it off with a light smile. “Nothing I didn’t expect, especially when I’m wearing all this. Honestly I’m surprised they let me through the door at all.” He held up his helmet, which he kept at his side. “Are they letting you do the interview, or are you stuck doing the weather?”

  The look of quiet horror on the reporter’s face as she considered the possibility was hard not to laugh at. She quickly recovered before speaking. “That would have been horrible, but no. They’re giving me this shot to prove myself, so don’t screw this up, okay?” The pleading tone was fairly obvious to anyone listening.

  ‘Should I…feel bad for her? Her boss is probably watching this interview like a hawk. On the other hand, she did nearly break into my apartment after all.’

  He offered a small smile. “It’ll be fine, just try to relax. I didn’t bring an ounce of adhesive with me anyway, so I’m harmless.” His joke did receive a smirk for his efforts. Mission Accomplished.

  Her earpiece caught her attention, and she glanced at the stage. “Alright, here I go.” Without another word, she stepped out onto the stage and made her way to the couches. Emerson tuned out the music partly as she started up whatever other stories were scheduled before him. He needed all the time he could get to relax. He still didn’t know how he was going to play this; should he try to be charming? Emerson didn’t really have faith in his ability to do that, which meant he needed to put on some kind of face that didn’t make him look like a complete idiot.

  ‘What was is that freaky kid said the other day? ‘Show them you came here to help people’ or something? That sounds about right.’

  Before he could start psyching himself up, he heard Diana’s voice from the stage. “And now, we have an interview with a recent internet sensation. You’ll recognize him from the video ‘Omniglue for You!!’, everyone welcome Emerson Wood!”

  Music began playing, telling him he was out of time. Putting on his best smile, Emerson tucked his helmet under his arm and stepped out to face the world on his terms.

  The first thing he noticed was that most of the people behind the cameras and lighting looked just as nervous as he was. No one really knew what to expect from this segment, and Emerson couldn’t blame them. Still, he had his goals in mind as he stepped onto the slightly raised platform where he’d seen people talk on the morning news for years. He never expected he’d be here himself.

  The less he thought about the couple costumed heroes he noticed in the back of the room staring at him, the better.

  Diana waited for him to sit down before she started speaking. “Mr. Wood, we’d like to thank you for coming on today. I’m sure you’re very busy after your newfound popularity.” Her tone was light, but also very clearly practiced. Diana wanted to get this right as much as Emerson did, and she couldn’t afford to slip up.

  So, he played along. “Admittedly, yeah I have. I’ve been hoping for an opportunity like this as well, so thanks for having me on.” He tried to smile brightly, hoping the cameras hid his terror. “I’ve never been on the news before, so I’m not really sure about how the format works.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Well luckily for you, that’s the easy part! If you’d be willing to answer a few questions for the folks at home, we’ve collected some submitted to the network.” Her smile widened, almost to the point where Emerson was slightly uneasy.

  ‘She’ll need to work on that, its really throwing me off my rhythm.’

  He nodded, swallowing whatever tension he had. “Ask away. I’m a fairly open book, not really any point in hiding things now.” Maybe this earnest sincerity shtick was easier than he’d thought. The worst she could ask was something to do with his criminal record, and that was already public knowledge.“Alright, the first question we have is fairly easy: How did your family and friends react when you first told them about the video?”

  ‘Scratch everything I thought before. THAT is easily the worst thing to be asked.’

  Panic mode sirens started blaring in his brain, even as he swallowed to answer anyway. “Well...I’m not actually that close with my siblings. Haven’t talked to them in, lets see, a year and a half? It was just before I went to prison.” There was a tangible pressure in the air as he told the story. “I’m not gonna say too much. They deserve there privacy and everything, but I’ve been basically alone since then. That said, when I was in prison I made a friend who helped me clean up my act. I don’t think I’d be on television talking about all this if he hadn’t gotten my head spun on straight.”

  He waved to the camera. “I know you’re probably getting this channel in the rec-room, so thanks John. It really does mean everything.” He glanced back to Diana before he continued. “Oh, and since I’m sure its a question someone’s gonna ask: No, I haven’t been contacted or made contact with anything criminal since I got out. That would kinda go against the whole point of this, you know?” He laughed a little bit, removing some of the weight in the room.

  Diana, to her credit, regained control instantly. “That’s very inspiring. Another question I’m sure a lot of people want to know the answer to: When you posted your video, you mentioned that you’d seen technology being kept under wraps. Could you elaborate on that?”

  Emerson honestly hadn’t been expecting that question to be brought up. In fact, he was under the impression that those kinds of questions would be filtered out so he couldn’t answer them. He saw his chance open before him, and he smiled. “I’d be happy to. I was a villain for almost five years, and in that time I’ve gotten in scraps with tons of vigilantes and heroes and even a couple other criminals. Something they don’t tell you is that a lot of the lower level heroes and villains either don’t have any powers, or have really specific ones. So, their gimmicks are usually built around gadgets and tech to compensate.”

  He paused, letting the thought sink in. “Some of that stuff is really high end too, like rocket boots, a healing ray, or full powersuits. I’ve seen that kind of junk in the hands of vigilantes with seemingly no source, and that makes me wonder how easy it is to make that stuff, you know? It must be easier than the public thinks, otherwise everybody would have to be getting it from somewhere. And I’m not a big enough conspiracy theorist to say that’s the case.”

  Diana caught on fairly quickly. “So you’re saying that there is a trend to not share technology. If I may ask, for what purpose do you think that is?”

  ‘Showtime. Alright Emerson, lets not screw this up.’

  Emerson thought about it for a moment before deciding on his words. “I mean, it doesn’t necessarily need to be for a purpose, and I’d guess most people who do so don’t even realize the full implications of their actions. If people are afraid of what handing their inventions over to others will lead to, they’ll naturally keep it to themselves. Even if that technology could help countless people. It’s human nature to be afraid of things, and that’s fine.” He let his words hang in the air, not sure whether anyone would really remember this little speech but hoping regardless. “I think what we need to do is stop worrying about what might happen, and instead start thinking about what can happen. Everything this technology can achieve. Whether its medical advancements, exploration and scientific study, or, in my case, stuff like construction and restoration. I think we owe it to people to trust them, you know?”

  There was a definite pause in the room as Diana considered his words, along with likely everyone else present. He glanced quickly to the heroes in the back, seeing them talking to each other quietly.

  ‘That might not be good, but its too late now. I’ve said my piece and they can’t stop me.’

  As he looked back to Diana, her attention snapped back to him and she continued. “I’m sure everyone watching will agree that your idea is very generous. We’ve got a few other questions that I’d like to ask you, so lets see….”

  Emerson let the reporter lead the interview for the most part, knowing he’d gotten most of what he wanted out of the broadcast. By the time it was over, he’d answered all sorts of questions he wasn’t expecting. Hopefully people watching would take at least a molecule of his speech to heart, even if they forget about him once the next big internet sensation comes around.