Here’s my take on the “Superheroes” edition of Sketchwar.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
FADE IN:\u00a0<\/p>\n
EXT. AMALGAMATED INSURANCE – DAY<\/p>\n
A sign in front of an office building reads “Amalgamated Insurance”. In the background, a SUPERHERO flies through the air.<\/p>\n
THE ADJUSTOR (V.O.)<\/p>\n
Mr. Taggert, I understand the situation.<\/p>\n
INT. THE ADJUSTOR’S OFFICE – DAY<\/p>\n
THE ADJUSTOR (40s -- glasses, moustache, gray suit, black cape) paces around his drab, gray office. He takes notes on a clipboard.<\/p>\n
He talks on an old landline phone.<\/p>\n
A placard on the desk reads “The Adjustor!”<\/p>\n
A cup of coffee and a donut sit on the desk.<\/p>\n
Photos on the wall show the Adjustor posing stiffly with various costumed superheroes.<\/p>\n
THE ADJUSTOR<\/p>\n
Yes, the Masked Defender fought an epic battle with Doctor Infinity at your office building.<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Amalgamated Insurance is not necessarily<\/i> going to cover the building damages. That’s what I’m trying to find out. Now, did you call the authorities as soon as they showed up?<\/p>\n
(listens, winces)<\/p>\n
Okay, good. And somebody did ask them to leave the building?<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Okay, good was the Masked Defender really fighting evil? Was Doctor Infinity --<\/p>\n
(listens, takes notes)<\/p>\n
“Lust for power”... “death ray”... “attack monkeys”... “enslave humanity”... got it. But still, the policy has an explicit ‘superheroes only’ rider. If I recall correctly, the Masked Defender is strictly a well-funded vigilante.<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
So he flew with a jetpack, or flew --<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Ah. That settles that. Now, if they were using parts of the building as weapons<\/i>, you have to take it up with them --<\/p>\n
(listens, winces)<\/p>\n
-- okay, you don’t have to shout.<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Yes, go ahead and send the news footage. But why were they in your office building in the first place, Mr. Taggert?<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
What’s a “Supernatural Locus”?<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Uh huh.<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Uh huh.<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
So if Doctor Infinity opened that interdimensional door, then he’d --<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Invincible, right. So you’re saying that Hobart Industrial Park has a supernatural locus underneath it?<\/p>\n
(listens, smiles)<\/p>\n
Sir, that’s what we in the insurance business call a ‘pre-existing condition.’<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
As per the policy, if the building contained an interdimensional rift vortex, you had to tell us about it.<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Yeah, well why don’t you fly over here and tell me that?!<\/p>\n
(listens)<\/p>\n
Ah. I see.<\/p>\n
He hangs up.<\/p>\n
He calls another number, and puts it on speaker.<\/p>\n
THE ADJUSTOR<\/p>\n
Security? We may have an airborne hero attacking the building shortly.<\/p>\n
SECURITY<\/p>\n
Third one this week. I’ll fire up the destructo-cannon.<\/p>\n
THE ADJUSTOR<\/p>\n
You do that.<\/p>\n
He hangs up.<\/p>\n
HEROIC MUSIC plays as the Adjustor enjoys his coffee and donut.<\/p>\n
FADE OUT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peter’s take on the “Superheroes” edition of Sketchwar: “The Adjustor!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197],"class_list":["post-1498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-superheroes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}