Re: Batman/Maria/Superman (or - After the longest car ride ever)
She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he insisted that it was somehow different. "Please listen," she said. "I'm going to do my best to explain this, but it needs context.
"When I was seventeen, I joined the Marine Corps," she said. "The Marines are big believers in saving lives through superior firepower. That means every Marine learns to use a rifle. By the time I was twenty, I qualified as an Expert marksman in rifle and pistol, and I have maintained that skill level.
"Have you ever fired a rifle?" she asked. "You stand back at five hundred yards, squeeze a trigger - perhaps two or three pounds of force - and you tear a hole through whatever's in your sights. When it's flesh and blood, that generally means that your enemy drops. One minute they're upright, the next, dead or bleeding out.
"Humans like me, we don't have special powers and abilities. We just have firearms. And so long as our opponent is human, we can stand as god and judge and end a life. What matters is the reasons behind it.
"I've killed," she said bluntly. "I was a soldier in a war zone, surrounded by explosions, and I killed so that I and those around me would not die."