The preparations were complete in concert hall 2b for the annual Heroism Expert Panel at THE Con. The panelists were seated in a neat row, with little placards displaying their names and a small 1-3 word explanation of what qualified them to be speaking. The crowd was pretty large; this was one of the more popular events on Hero Day, where people could ask questions to Heroes and experts that had been floating in their minds all year!

The Panel Proctor did some basic introductions, talked on the theme for a while, and then... opened it up for questions!

The Rules:
Use this as an opportunity to ask those burning questions to panel participants! 
You may Ask one question at a time.
You must state who the question is being asked to! This can be to all participants!(C&P the question in your responses, Panelists!)

Anyone Asking a question must keep in mind a few things:
Who is asking the question? This can be your character, or a made up NPC.
Is the question realistic? It should be based on public knowledge of the character you are asking it to!
Is it something someone would ask in a public setting?

That is all for now, though more rules may be posted depending on how it looks like things are going!

Current Panel Participants:
Saphirus(X-Men)
Malcolm(Hero Expert) 
Xavier(Aspiring Hero who is honestly lost)
Blue Torch(Long Time Hero)
Shard(X-Men)
Akshay(Superhero Movie Writer/Director)

First in line, a tall man with shaggy brown hair and taped up glasses stepped up.

"Uhhh, This one is for Mr.Akshay. What real life Superheroes inspired your works? Are any of them here? Thank you"

He lingered for a second before nodding awkwardly and wandering off to the side.

Akshay had planned for this. When he came to New York, he knew that he was going to have to do a panel once the convention was here. He had been hoping he would have more done but there would be enough to quell the audiences should they ask for anything. Still, he was a little bit of a perfectionist when it came to his work he would have had rather had a masterpiece rather than a teaser and poorly spliced concept art. Still that would be a different hall (he hoped). This was something altogether different.

Sitting on stage of the “Ask a Hero” panel, he had to wonder why he was actually here. He wasn’t a superhero, not like a few of the big names he recognized up here. He was just a writer and director of a couple superhero movies. But he guessed they wanted all the angles to answer questions. Made sense when you really thought of it.

Dressed in nice dark trousers, dark jacket, and a white shirt with the top buttons undone (truly looked like a Hollywood schlub now) he smiled as he looked out over the crowd. He’d rather be in costume but that was hardly acceptable when on stage like this. He had all his cosplays ready for the rest of the convention days. For now, he would Hollywood Akshay and answer any Q&As.

Strangely, with the hero and celebrity names up here, he was surprised he was the first to be asked. So, holding up his microphone, he shifted in his seat and smiled as he looked out towards the crowd and, particularly, to the person who asked his question.

”Oh thanks for asking! Ugh, yeah, there are a few that have inspired me. Obviously the fictional heroes like Captain Goldfish and such, but yeah, there are a few real life heroes that have inspired my work,” he gestured to those sitting near him. ”Blue Torch is an old favorite of mine. Love your work, my dude,” he chuckled. ”I cosplayed you so much I think someone actually once confused me for you during a bank robbery. New York, right?” he laughed. ”And of course, the X-Men,” he said, applauding the real X-Men on stage. ”They’ve done so much for the city, it’s hard not to be inspired by them and their continued sacrifices to keep us safe. You guys are amazing,” he said of the X-Men. He then turned back to the questioner. ”Though my favorites have always been Lodestone and Alchemist. Though I think Lodestone goes by a different name now? Gotta switch up the brand, right?”

A short, blonde girl wearing a viking inspired costume from 'How to Coach your wyvern' stepped up to the mic next, and then had to spend an embarrassing minute adjusting it down so that she could actually talk into it.

"This one is for One in A Million." She started, adjusting her spiked helmet before it could fall off. "What's it like being an up-n-coming hero in a city of bigger, more well known heroes? How do you make a name for yourself?"

She shot him a thumbs up, grinned and then turned to toddle back off to wherever her blue-flamed companion was hiding.

Oh my god, he was sitting here. The Blue torch was next to him. Right next to him. He didn't dare turn his head. He stared straight, or looked down to his hands, placed flat on the table before him.

He hadn't meant to sign up for this panel. He didn't belong up here. Not yet. What had he done?

His eyes widened a bit when he heard his hero name. He looked down at the person asking the question. J- Juni?! Wait, she was asking him a fluff question? Oh my god. She was a saint. She was the absolute best hero friend ever!

He smiled wide. "Well, I save a lot of cats from trees!" That drew a bit of a chuckle from the crowd. "But really, I'm just doing the best I can out there every day. If a name comes, it comes, but what's more important is saving lives."

He nodded. Gosh, Juni really was the best!

A 7 foot tall bearded man in a Perry Hotter-themed costume stepped up next. He was supposed to be dressed as the half-giant teacher friend. He looked up at the stage, tapped the microphone a few times, then asked his question.

“This one is for Malcolm Sterling. And Shard too, I guess.” He glances from Malcolm to the X-man in the golden armor. The man had taken off the helm, but those spiky shoulder pads... were a danger to those around him. What a show off.

The half-giant cleared his throat.

“The web is clamoring about last month, when they saw you talking with Shard after the Godzilla event, Mr. Sterling. Rumor has it you helped him with that? Will details of the encounter make their way into your web novel at all? And are you planning to shadow any other heroes in the future, for future inspiration?”

Shard leaned forward and nabbed Malcolm Sterling’s mic for a second. He glanced at him and smiled.

”I am going to leave those first couple of questions to Mr. Sterling. But for the last one? Sure. He can tag along with me whenever he wants. Helpful guy. And if the tabloids stories are true... handy with a hammer.” Shard said.

The half-giant had heard that rumor too! About the possessed plushies. He looked towards Malcolm even more intently, now that Shard had helped him with part of the question.

Shard gave Malcolm back his microphone. ”Well? Mal. What about the rest?”

Sitting at the panel in front of the audience was like returning home to Malcolm. The faces, the questions, the talented individuals next to him brought the convention to life. While a lot of people loved to come for the cosplay and the dealers hall, Malcolm loved the panels. He loved talking, and hearing opinions. These little moments to interact with the community made him feel alive.

The first question to be addressed to him caught him off guard, though. Shard took the mic and Malcolm had to suppress a little fanboy moment when the super hero invited him to help out more in the future. Shiny!.

Controlling himself, he took the offered mic and grinned. "Well, I am out there following these heroes to get an idea what they face on a daily basis, and reflect that accurately in my web novels. I have certainly saved some tidbits from this latest event for the newest update of Mighty Moon. While I fictionalize some characters, I don't need to invent the crazy circumstances I have found myself in over the years shadowing these guys." He laughed, then continued. "I will certainly be shadowing more heroes when I can. Shard has been extremely generous letting me get an inside look into his heroics. Hopefully I won't disappoint on the next adventure!"

Sam smirked when he walked into the panel room. He spotted three people he knew right off the bat. One was the homeless looking X-Man who kept drinking all of his beer the other was Shin, also known as Shard and the last one he knew was Xavier who kicked his but in basketball. Sam looked to Cora and motioned for her to take a seat his grin from ear to ear. He walked into the line to ask the hard hitting questions.

His arm still iced up he thought his Todoroki was still spot on despite having wandered the comic-con with Cora already. Sam grinned as he walked up to the mic and cleared his throat already looking at two of the X-men. While he might have missed some of the questions already he knew no one was going to ask anything like this not this was more to mess with the people he knew up there.

Clearing his throat and leaning into the mic Sam waved his frozen arm at the panel giving Xavier the thumbs up before looking to Shin and Saph. ”This one is for…” he put his ice covered hand over his eyes as if he was struggling to see the names. ”Shard and Saph. I mean Saphirus.” ‘good catch’ he smirked as he licked his lips then leaned into the mic again.

”I heard Cold Steel recently changed his name to ‘Rime’ to rebrand. Obviously he is still the coolest member on the team. Is it hard to compare yourself to other members on the team who did things like take on a volcano?” he spotted Cora and gave her the thumbs up. ”Follow up, do you guys ever get intimidated by his chiseled physique? The man is cut like diamonds.”

Saphirus was out of his element. He looked slightly uncomfortable in his little fold out chair, looking out across the crowd of people as others answered questions. He'd done a panel before, but this place was huge!

The hero looked over to Shard for a second, and then back at the crowd as someone walked up and started asking a question. He heard the name Saph, and his eyes squinted as he leaned in to see who was walking.

Wait... Awww that little punk! His jaw set as he started talking, asking if it was difficult to compare to Sam. Ohhh, what a @#$^ head! He resisted the urge to jump out from behind the table and launch himself as the petulant mini Sam, instead smacking his lips and leaning back.

"Eh, I've done plenty. My record speaks for itself, yeah? Over 1000 cases solved and criminals apprehended with the NYPD, personal credits on many of the training programs used today by SWAT tasks forces to de-escalate encounters or combat mutant abilities. Ten years of this, I think my accomplishments aren't too shabby." He shook his head and chuckled when he asked about physique, standing, and opening his arms to show off his form. Saphirus was, and had been for a while, built like a brick @#$^house, you could tell it under his clothes. "I'm not doin too bad. Sides, poor guy got turned into a 12 year old. What can you do?"

He looked over to Shin, smiling a bit. "What do you think? Feeling any of that envy, there?"

Oh god. Young Sam, with the curve ball question. Somebody call someone.

He had asked about... himself. He probably felt so damn cool. He was about to make some choice comments, but someone beat him to the punch.

Saphirus handled the questions pretty well, for a guy Shin had a feeling wasn’t entirely used to the convention scene. Not that he, himself, was. Except for the flexing. That was just silly. As if mutations had anything to do with physique.

Saphirus jokes about Sam being 12, and that wasn’t quite fair, but then he turned the question over to him and Shin actually had to think.

Was he feeling any envy?

”Oh yeah~,” He grinned, leaning into the microphone. ”I am totally envious of the wagon he uses to cart around his big head some days. That, is a nice wagon.” He looked to Saphirus. ”Isn’t that a nice wagon? Radio Flyer or something? I think he stole it from a Girl Scout. Might’ve been his girlfriends ride? Eh. But more seriously, folks—“

He grabbed the mic and changed his tone.

”We X-men are a team. It takes all sorts. Saphirus and I focus more on helping the police, and sorting out violent mutant crime in the city. We patrol. Might not have much time to go out and punch volcanoes. Cold Steel, or Rhyme or Rhythm and Blues, or whatever he wants to call himself today... we may tease him a little from time to time. That’s how teammates operate. I still think he’s a valued member of the team, no matter his current situation. Maybe a little goofy, asking questions about himself, but hey. If you ever need someone to help keep your ice cream frosty... he is handy to have around.”

He smiled, smiled, smiled at the cosplayer who had asked the question.

”As for his diamond hard physique— I am literally wearing diamond hard armor made with my mind. Who cares if I have a six pack? Ask silly questions, get silly answers, right?” He shrugged and replaced the microphone.

Cora had already wandered the convention with Sam, her outfit now sporting a pair of leather arm bracers, but even with the out of place color she could turn a few heads. From where she sat she had to try her best to avoid either a) facepalming at Sam's insanely cheesy questions or b) laughing at his teammates response. She tried not to react strongly either way, for fear that laughing was not supporting Sam and doubting his skills, but also knowing the ice mutant clearly asked for the hazing.

Once he was heading to sit, Cora took the chance to ask her own questions. She could have tried to defend Sam's honor, but opted for something a little more on the serious side. It couldn't all be jokes, after all.

"I had a follow up question for the X-men on the panel. Clearly, you all have an assortment of impressive powers, but not everyone is given a mutation that seems inherently useful. What do you tell those aspiring heroes who perhaps lack the natural abilities to do great things?"

Since no one from the X-men had hopped up to volunteer yet (and Shin had waited. He had waited like a good boy, looked around, and waited a good whole ten seconds!), Shin leaned forward and to grab the microphone again.

He made a mental note to back off after this, and let the other panelists take center stage. He really did not need to be an attention hog. He was not THAT huge of an egotist.

The leather-clad girl had a good question. He flat out told her so. ”Good question! Well... we have had a few people on the team, or in the X-kids, with powers less combat-oriented. They learned to protect themselves the Vanilla way, with self defense courses and lots of training. But for people who want to be heroes and aren’t interested in knowing Kung fu...” Shin paused, then glanced around somewhat embarrassedly. Suddenly, he was self conscious.

He held the mic, and looked right at the woman. ”Look. I know this is cheesy. Especially coming from me. But if you want to be a hero, be a Hero. Become a police officer. Or a fire fighter. Or a doctor. A nurse. An EMT. A teacher. Or if you already have a career, volunteer your time at homeless centers or youth centers. Become a big brother of America, sponsor a troubled teen. Or if you’re parent oriented and have the time and desire to help better someone’s life. Just one person. You could adopt. I know those are a lot of things. But there are a metric ton of ways to be a hero without putting on a garish costume and shouting BAM when you slug a criminal. And we need people in those fields. They’re real heroes.”

He set down the mic.

Saphirus listened to the question quietly, crossing his arms over his chest and remaining silent for a good solid moment. Shin spoke up. He agreed with some of that his fellow X-Man said. He disagreed with a lot of it.

After Shin set down the mic, Saphirus nodded a few times, and then spoke up. "I'm not gonna say that having my abilities doesn't help me do what I do. I could point to a thousand times I would be dead if I didn't have my power. More than than, maybe. I've been shot more times than I can count at this point, y'know?" He looked down to the woman who'd asked the question from their elevated position on the stage, and studied her for a moment before looking over to Shin.

"I'm not gonna tell you to be a doctor or nurse, or help a troubled youth. I can tell you that if you plan to go into fighting crime you have to be aware of your limitations. A large part of my career nowadays is teaching people how to fight powers without powers, and I can tell you any time you do, you put yourself in incredible danger." He shifted, uncrossing his arms and placing his elbows on the table, one hand closed over the other.

"The people I teach are most often trained professionals who are well equipped, and usually in teams. Doing it alone is far more dangerous. I'm not gonna stop you tryin, but really think about if you are going to save people, or just get yourself and others hurt. Once you have that think tank, and you still want to go forward with it, make sure you are prepared. For the situations you might get into... And the consequences of your actions."

Well. That got serious. Shin had a way of saying things in a way that felt like you could give it to a politician on a flash card. Saphirus, not so much.