Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Share the love (well, ok, not literally, that might get messy) for Poe's first big outing into the webcomic world.
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emo samurai
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Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by emo samurai »

I know she didn't know the location of the headquarters, but she could have hijacked a few spy satellites and analyzed black helicopter migration patterns. The guys who made her weren't exactly subtle (or competent), and she could obviously conjure arbitrary amounts of destructive power on a whim. For that matter, why did she bother selling weapons to raise money? Why didn't she just steal a few hundred Swiss bank account numbers and then go from there?
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Lukkai
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by Lukkai »

First question: Afaik she was trying to make them belief she was dead. You can't do that for very long if you directly go after someone. Since she didn't know how far exactly the project progressed after she left, it was a rather reasonable choice as well. Since even wiping out Hooper and his base of operations would not assure that they would stop going after her, but definitely alert them to her still being alive (complete with fresh tracks to her current whereabouts). Don't forget that the guys were subtle and competent enough to keep the whole thing a well guarded secret for a good decade by the time of the comic.

Second question: First of all she seems to actually enjoy selling weapons more often than not. Second, the chance of getting caught (or even if, trialed and not just forced to make a little deal) is actually way lower.
I'm with SD. We're putting the anal into analysis.
emo samurai
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by emo samurai »

She could still, I dunno, print money or something. And I have more faith in Jordan's ability to stay secret than you do. Her heart really isn't set on ruling the world, she was even slow to kill that one mugger that Bush shot.

Also, rereading the archives, it seems implausible that she'd be into passively hiding even if it's for her own safety.
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Lukkai
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by Lukkai »

The way I see it, she simply didn't want to deal with her past at all. As long as she did nothing to alert them to her still being alive and well, she would stay under their radar (which shouldn't be underestimated as well) and could simply decide not to think about all that stuff.

Printing money is harder than it sounds ;). With all the special paper, ink, details added against forgery and the fact that many printers have a distinguishable "signature". But that's not what you wanted to say now is it.
As I said: She seems to actually enjoy selling weapons. And she's good at it. So why not earning money that way?
I'm with SD. We're putting the anal into analysis.
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Sareth
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by Sareth »

I happen to agree with Lukkai.

Her past experiences back at the lab/school/home for pedophiliac suits was a horrible thing she did not want to think about any more than she had to. Killing Hooper would have caused them to go looking for whoever did it. Further, while hunting Hooper, it would increase the chances of the Center finding her (by them discovering someone was being nosy and tracing the efforts back.

Then there's the fact it would also force her to confront the memories. Many people suffering from traumatic experiences tend to wind up with avoidant behaviors. They will do whatever they can to avoid anything that might remind them. Trust me, I know whereof I speak. So for her, all she wanted was to forget all about the Center (never happen) and hope they forgot all about her (might happen).

As for the arms sales, you have to consider Jordan's brain. The risk to her becoming caught by selling these weapons came less from the Center than from the more usual authorities. Unless the Center was so utterly convinced she was alive AND an arms dealer they wouldn't really have any reason to be tapping into the Hague. So being sent back there after being caught really wasn't a significant risk. On the other hand, it was an amusing challenge. Jordan doesn't give a rats ass about human life in the general. (Specific human lives, yes. Just not the generic ones.) So for her there is no moral compunction to avoid arms dealing. It was, however, a relatively high risk activity with a high return on investment. So it was somewhat challenging. A mind as smart as hers enjoys a good challenge, and dealing arms while staying one step ahead of Interpol is a high stakes chess game. She'd enjoy it. To the contrary of that, printing money would bore her to death. After all, doing that she only had to get it right once. Print money so perfectly no one notices and... no one notices. She can print out a mint and spend it and have no challenge in it. If she gets it wrong, there's no profit. Selling arms? If she does it perfectly, people will notice but not catch her. If she does it wrong, she can still make money but have to escape. Much more challenging to someone with the brains and morals of a criminal mastermind but no urge to actually take over the world.
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emo samurai
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by emo samurai »

The desire to be challenged without any real ambition? Sounds like a standard hacker trope.
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Sareth
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by Sareth »

She's shockingly similar, yeah.
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emo samurai
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by emo samurai »

Disrupt the Center's dumb, pacified New World Order while making a buck seems like a rational thing to do. I guess her real flaw was in lacking the vision to make the final jump.
emo samurai
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by emo samurai »

Rereading the last leg of the comic, it seems like Jordan's fatal mistake was in telling Bush to escape by herself. Regardless of whatever sensitive machinations Jordan had in mind, Bush was like 8 times safer at her side.
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Re: Why didn't Jordan wipe out Hooper before?

Post by sosad »

A mind as smart as hers enjoys a good challenge, and dealing arms while staying one step ahead of Interpol is a high stakes chess game. She'd enjoy it. To the contrary of that, printing money would bore her to death. After all, doing that she only had to get it right once. Print money so perfectly no one notices and... no one notices. She can print out a mint and spend it and have no challenge in it. If she gets it wrong, there's no profit. Selling arms? If she does it perfectly, people will notice but not catch her. If she does it wrong, she can still make money but have to escape. Much more challenging to someone with the brains and morals of a criminal mastermind but no urge to actually take over the world.
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