Continued from Part Fourteen

The Emerald Avenger stood with Zolgron at Powerhouse’s waterfall. “Wilson and Gordon look sure to be found guilty of arson.”

Zolgron smiled. “Splendid. That should take them out of circulation for about five years and then ruin the rest of their lives.”

The Emerald Avenger sighed.

Zolgron frowned. “You’re not happy. I don’t understand. Everything went as planned.”

“I feel dirty inside, like I need a shower.”

A stream of water burst from the sky, soaking him. Dave glared. “I didn’t mean literally!”

The water stopped.

Dave wrung out his hair. “They’re not guilty of arson. We framed them.”

Zolgron rolled his eyes. “So? They are guilty of something worse—being an accessory to murder and taking a bribe. Do you have any doubt that they’re guilty of that?”

“No.”

“Even if we were to share our information with prosecutors and we happened to get one who wasn’t corrupt, they couldn’t act on what we gave them because we got our information illegally and they have no probable cause to replicate our search legally.”

 The Emerald Avenger blinked. “What’s probable cause?”

“My mistake. You’ve spent your life watching Superman, not Law and Order. Just trust me. There was no way the law would get them for the crimes they committed. Therefore, we just helped justice along.”

“But with anything I do, I need to ask WWSD: What would Superman do? I can’t imagine Superman doing this.”

Zolgron sighed. “Superman is a poor role model with unrealistic high moral standards—or at least the version you’re thinking of did. The best philosophy with heroes is to find one who doesn’t challenge you much, preferably one your actions are better than. Personally, I think you need to ask, ‘WWPD?’”

Huh? “What would the police do?”

“No, what would the Punisher do?”

“But the Punisher would’ve shot them in the face or blown them up with hand grenades.”

“And you were merciful enough to just frame them for a crime they didn’t commit.”

“I’m not sure you’re right.”
            Zolgron thumped the Emerald Avenger on the back. “Trust me. You’ll feel better about yourself, and that’s the most important thing. Don’t think, ‘Spider-man wouldn’t approve of this.’ Think, ‘The Punisher and Darkman would have no problem with this.’”

Yeah, but do I really want to be like them? They’re kind of crazy.

Continued Next Tuesday

Tales of the Dim Knight is available in Paperback form, in the Kindle Store (on sale this week for $2.99), as well as on Smashwords in a variety of formats. At both sites, you can get extensive free excerpts on your computer, or sent directly to your Kindle device from the Kindle store.