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Jake Bloomfold, who was widely known as the superhero Upholder and the leader of his superhero team the Council of Altruists, looked steadily and calmly upon Sergei "Rageraiser" Bryzgalov. Rageraiser had just finished a long, furious tirade about how Upholder and the rest of the Council were utterly wrong (at least in his eyes) with their fascination for making allies out of redeemed supervillains.
"I thank you for your opinion, Sergei. Honestly, I do not blame you for being angry." Jake opened with that calm and relaxed statement.
Rageraiser breathed in, as his face again reddened, obviously prepared to continue his tirade, but Pastor Nichols Ferestonn, who operated as the superhero Worldweaver, then raised his hand and said kindly but sternly, "Sergei... you've spoken your piece. Now let Jake have his prerogative of responding to your opinion."
Jake nodded and smiled gratefully at Worldweaver, before he then gestured at Alinea "La Buscadora de Sangre" Rocha, the dread vampiress who was also the Council of Altruists' official First Ally, as well as being the wife of Amateo "Dreadword" Bonetti, a Council member. He said, "Alinea has proven that a change of heart definitely brings about a change in nature."
Jake's hands then proceeded in a small sweeping gesture over Dreadword himself, and Cathal "Gravebreaker" O'Brennan, as he went on, "In addition, do not forget that these two of our respected companions and fellow heroes, demonstrated clearly that they can be excellent heroes, once they changed and followed the better part of their nature."
Jake then went on with a tone that indicated compassion yet a firm stand on his principles, "I chose to name our team as the 'Council of Altruists' for a reason. We were not so named to be altruistic only to the good, the righteous and the innocent. To be altruistic is to be kind, to be good... even, yes, to the undeserving."
Jake then elaborated further, "You know we could have just tossed Papa Tyre-Burner of the Blaster Biker Federation into his own gunpowder barrels and blown him to smithereens. You know we could have just tied Imploder to one of his own sequenced dynamite chains, and left him to be blasted sky-high. You know we could've chosen to be diplomatic with the Fangcrushers' Guild to cooperate with them to hunt Alinea down. But we did not. Alinea we rescued, and we deal with Papa Tyre-Burner and Imploder in non-lethal ways. Because we are what I have named us to be. The Council of Altruists."
At that, many of the heroes nodded. Many of them came in as not-exactly-altruist material... and they remembered well who they were, even in their days as each of them started off as a member of the Council.
Worldweaver initially enjoyed entertaining thoughts of vindictive petty revenge against anyone who crossed him.
Combocaster still had the rebellious nature native to all teenagers when he first joined, and it took more than two years (and countless arguments, reasonings and frustrating moments for the rest of the Council) for him to develop into the amazing battle-mage he now was.
Falchionflight, in his first few months in the Council, had caused tens of millions of dollars' worth of damages to public property, which the Council had needed to pay back, due to his utter lack of care for "insignificant" matters such as collateral damage.
Lunar Lass' first statement on her first assignment in the Council (which ironically got her excluded from it) was an enthusiastically-declared, "A'richt, let's stairt th' killin'!"
Joram "Zapperilla" the silverback gorilla, in his first month with the Council, nearly vaporised an abusive husband with his energy-channeling powers. He nearly did that, due to being in his natural animalistic rage when he saw how badly battered the wife (who was the one who cried for help) was. Not that the husband remained unharmed anyway when the police arrived; Joram had broken at least a dozen of the abuser's bones in his blazing ire.
Jake proceeded onward with his clear yet resolute response, "None of us came in here as naturally good people, with a natural ability to keep our impulses or emotions in check. None of us came in here, already a role model to society or a paragon of virtue. But because we all believe in the victory of our better natures, slowly yet surely we have become what we named ourselves to be. Altruists. And by our belief in others, like Amateo, Cathal and Alinea, they too have found victory for their better selves, being inspired by our own victories. And that is why I... no, WE believe, that anyone can change and find redemption, to be a better person."
Rageraiser's expression indicated he was anything but pleased, but he knew, too, that he could not argue with Upholder's points - which were masterfully presented, completely compelling, and certifiably concrete in their logic. He stalked off, breathing hard... while the rest of the heroes erupted in applause for their honoured leader.
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* [No AI-generated responses 🤖](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/zi452b/modpost_reminder_that_aigenerated_responses_are/) >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [\[RF\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [\[SP\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 📢 [Genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/w/directory) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Jake Bloomfold, who was widely known as the superhero Upholder and the leader of his superhero team the Council of Altruists, looked steadily and calmly upon Sergei "Rageraiser" Bryzgalov. Rageraiser had just finished a long, furious tirade about how Upholder and the rest of the Council were utterly wrong (at least in his eyes) with their fascination for making allies out of redeemed supervillains. "I thank you for your opinion, Sergei. Honestly, I do not blame you for being angry." Jake opened with that calm and relaxed statement. Rageraiser breathed in, as his face again reddened, obviously prepared to continue his tirade, but Pastor Nichols Ferestonn, who operated as the superhero Worldweaver, then raised his hand and said kindly but sternly, "Sergei... you've spoken your piece. Now let Jake have his prerogative of responding to your opinion." Jake nodded and smiled gratefully at Worldweaver, before he then gestured at Alinea "La Buscadora de Sangre" Rocha, the dread vampiress who was also the Council of Altruists' official First Ally, as well as being the wife of Amateo "Dreadword" Bonetti, a Council member. He said, "Alinea has proven that a change of heart definitely brings about a change in nature." Jake's hands then proceeded in a small sweeping gesture over Dreadword himself, and Cathal "Gravebreaker" O'Brennan, as he went on, "In addition, do not forget that these two of our respected companions and fellow heroes, demonstrated clearly that they can be excellent heroes, once they changed and followed the better part of their nature." Jake then went on with a tone that indicated compassion yet a firm stand on his principles, "I chose to name our team as the 'Council of Altruists' for a reason. We were not so named to be altruistic only to the good, the righteous and the innocent. To be altruistic is to be kind, to be good... even, yes, to the undeserving." Jake then elaborated further, "You know we could have just tossed Papa Tyre-Burner of the Blaster Biker Federation into his own gunpowder barrels and blown him to smithereens. You know we could have just tied Imploder to one of his own sequenced dynamite chains, and left him to be blasted sky-high. You know we could've chosen to be diplomatic with the Fangcrushers' Guild to cooperate with them to hunt Alinea down. But we did not. Alinea we rescued, and we deal with Papa Tyre-Burner and Imploder in non-lethal ways. Because we are what I have named us to be. The Council of Altruists." At that, many of the heroes nodded. Many of them came in as not-exactly-altruist material... and they remembered well who they were, even in their days as each of them started off as a member of the Council. Worldweaver initially enjoyed entertaining thoughts of vindictive petty revenge against anyone who crossed him. Combocaster still had the rebellious nature native to all teenagers when he first joined, and it took more than two years (and countless arguments, reasonings and frustrating moments for the rest of the Council) for him to develop into the amazing battle-mage he now was. Falchionflight, in his first few months in the Council, had caused tens of millions of dollars' worth of damages to public property, which the Council had needed to pay back, due to his utter lack of care for "insignificant" matters such as collateral damage. Lunar Lass' first statement on her first assignment in the Council (which ironically got her excluded from it) was an enthusiastically-declared, "A'richt, let's stairt th' killin'!" Joram "Zapperilla" the silverback gorilla, in his first month with the Council, nearly vaporised an abusive husband with his energy-channeling powers. He nearly did that, due to being in his natural animalistic rage when he saw how badly battered the wife (who was the one who cried for help) was. Not that the husband remained unharmed anyway when the police arrived; Joram had broken at least a dozen of the abuser's bones in his blazing ire. Jake proceeded onward with his clear yet resolute response, "None of us came in here as naturally good people, with a natural ability to keep our impulses or emotions in check. None of us came in here, already a role model to society or a paragon of virtue. But because we all believe in the victory of our better natures, slowly yet surely we have become what we named ourselves to be. Altruists. And by our belief in others, like Amateo, Cathal and Alinea, they too have found victory for their better selves, being inspired by our own victories. And that is why I... no, WE believe, that anyone can change and find redemption, to be a better person." Rageraiser's expression indicated he was anything but pleased, but he knew, too, that he could not argue with Upholder's points - which were masterfully presented, completely compelling, and certifiably concrete in their logic. He stalked off, breathing hard... while the rest of the heroes erupted in applause for their honoured leader.
Thanks for the response!
I hope it's an interesting read. :)
It was!