Being able to save innocent lives would seem like a good thing, but I can only know who is innocent after activating my power, and in order to do that I must kill an innocent person. In a time of crisis it is always tempting to kill the closest person, but the closest person is not always innocent. It is hard to judge a person’s innocence from looking at them. Even after the power activates and I can clearly see who I can save the number of people I can move to safety is always smaller than I first expect.
I end up hanging around places with lots of children as a result because I can save most of them as they have not usually lived long enough to loose their innocence. Sadly as I get older, the number of innocent children in any group shrinks as it seems they are being corrupted younger as time goes on.
This one last time I looked up to see the nuke heading for my city and with no one else close enough I decided to sacrifice myself, hoping I would be considered innocent and that I could use my power as I died. In the moment of my death time froze and I was able to spend what felt like forever carrying those marked as innocent to safety. I was only able to save 25% of the city and surrounding affected area. As I brought the last of the about 500,000 innocent people to safety I contemplated if my life was worth this last act. If I had sacrificed someone else I might go on to save more people, but with the number of innocent people I could save each time diminishing and the number of people I had killed personally, I was glad it would soon be over. After I double checked the city to make sure I had saved everyone I could I let go and was blinded by the irradiated light.
wayofwisdomlbw t1_j6o0fji wrote
Reply to [WP] Out of all the superpowers out there, you consider yours the most sadistic; you can save any number of innocent people from death in the face of danger, but to gain that ability, you must kill an innocent person. Named after the infamous moral thought experiment, you are... Trolley Man. by MarauderOnReddit
Being able to save innocent lives would seem like a good thing, but I can only know who is innocent after activating my power, and in order to do that I must kill an innocent person. In a time of crisis it is always tempting to kill the closest person, but the closest person is not always innocent. It is hard to judge a person’s innocence from looking at them. Even after the power activates and I can clearly see who I can save the number of people I can move to safety is always smaller than I first expect.
I end up hanging around places with lots of children as a result because I can save most of them as they have not usually lived long enough to loose their innocence. Sadly as I get older, the number of innocent children in any group shrinks as it seems they are being corrupted younger as time goes on.
This one last time I looked up to see the nuke heading for my city and with no one else close enough I decided to sacrifice myself, hoping I would be considered innocent and that I could use my power as I died. In the moment of my death time froze and I was able to spend what felt like forever carrying those marked as innocent to safety. I was only able to save 25% of the city and surrounding affected area. As I brought the last of the about 500,000 innocent people to safety I contemplated if my life was worth this last act. If I had sacrificed someone else I might go on to save more people, but with the number of innocent people I could save each time diminishing and the number of people I had killed personally, I was glad it would soon be over. After I double checked the city to make sure I had saved everyone I could I let go and was blinded by the irradiated light.