VELVETEEN PRESENTS ACTION DUDE vs. Doing the Right Thing #2
Vel narrowed her eyes. Somebody was going to get punched really hard, just as soon as she knew where she was. They couldn’t keep her like this, not without cause, and she hadn’t done anything wrong. She—
The door opened. A woman poked her head inside, looking carefully at the machines before she focused on Vel. “Oh, good, you’re awake,” she said. “I thought the machines were bored and yelling about nothing again.”
“Imagineer!” Vel sat up as far as the cuff would allow. “What the fuck is going on? Why am I chained to this bed? Am I under arrest? Is this The Super Patriots, Inc., or do you have me held in some sort of secret lair? Are you going to hollow me out and turn me into a robot?”
“Huh.” Imagineer blinked. “I guess those are all reasonable questions, or they would be, if you’d paused for breath between them and given me a chance to answer one or two.
You are not under arrest. You are chained to the bed for your own protection, and so you don’t break any of my stuff.
Yes, you’re at headquarters. I’m not going to hollow you out and turn you into a robot, although that’s an interesting idea.
Now it’s my turn. How are you feeling? Any dizziness, nausea, disorientation… ?”
“You’re a technopath, not a doctor.”
Imagineer looked at her wearily. Velveteen realized with a start just how tired the other woman looked. “I’m the best you’ve got right now,” she said. “I’ll tell Aaron that you’re awake.”
She closed the door behind her when she left, and Velveteen was alone again. “Fuck,” she said, and closed her eyes. She was asleep before she knew it.
* * *
“Aaron?”
“No one calls me that anymore,” said Action Dude, eyes fixed on the surface of his coffee.
It was too strong. He needed to be awake when Vel needed him.
He’d been awake for three days. He wanted to sleep more than he had wanted anything in years.
He was starting to feel like he was developing another superpower, if hallucinations could be considered a power.
“It’s always ‘Action Dude.’ I don’t get to have a given name. I gave it away.”
“Okay, that’s super interesting and everything, and I’m just thrilled for you, but you asked me to tell you when bunny-girl woke up.” Imagineer folded her arms, leaning up against the doorframe. “She woke up. She went right back to sleep, but she woke up. She’s going to be okay.”
“What?” Action Dude’s head jerked around so fast that he felt something in his neck cramp. He didn’t care. He was busy staring at Imagineer. “She’s awake? Why didn’t you call me?”
“Well, first, because she’s not awake. She woke up, she went right back to sleep.
She’s exhausted. You get that, right? According to my machines, she hasn’t slept in years.
People aren’t designed to go without sleep for years.
I’m not sure how she’s still sane. Honestly, until she spoke to me, I wasn’t certain that she was.
” Imagineer remained in the doorway. It made good tactical sense.
As long as she was there, Action Dude couldn’t leave the room without either shoving her or punching his way through a wall.
Now that he had to pay the insurance bills, he was a lot more careful about his wall-punching.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to be before she can talk about what happened to her. I don’t know if she’ll want to.”
“I don’t care,” he said staunchly. “I just need to know that she’s okay.”
“Or maybe you don’t,” said Imagineer. “Aaron, you realize this is about to become a problem, yes? As long as she’s sick, as long as she’s unconscious, we’re not breaking any laws.
We’re allowed to tend to the medical needs of our fellow superhumans, due to the presumed limitations of the normal hospital system.
We don’t have to tell anyone that we have her.
But as soon as she’s better…she’s a wanted felon. We have to turn her in.”
“Her crime was not reporting to register herself as an animus when she wasn’t even in this dimension.”
“I know the law. Funny thing: it doesn’t make any exceptions for people being outside this temporal reality when the registration period was open.
” Imagineer raised her right arm, displaying the metal band clasped around her wrist. “I am very intimate with the regulatory structure now in place for the animus power class and associated disciplines.”
Action Dude winced. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to seem like I didn’t…” He stopped.
“I know.” Imagineer smiled wryly. “I won’t even ask why you wanted to avoid seeming like, because I know you don’t have a damn idea, just like I know that trying to use a machine to keep tabs on me was one of the stupidest things the government could ever have done.
I would have run otherwise. I’d be a supervillain now, like Yelena and her little girlfriend. ”
That was all it took to wipe the apology from Action Dude’s face, replacing it with steely chill.
“We don’t talk about them.”
“Relax, Aaron. This room isn’t bugged. Believe me, I’d know.
” Imagineer waved her wristbanded arm in an extravagant arc.
“We are as clear and safe here as we’ll ever be anywhere.
Although I wouldn’t put it past my handlers to ask me to plant bugs at some point, so I suppose your concern isn’t too misguided.
We live in a new world, my friend. Your grade school girlfriend doesn’t get a pass just because she was in a different dimension when the rules changed.
Hell, that’s why the rules changed. Maybe I should turn her in myself. ”
“You wouldn’t dare,” said Action Dude coldly.
“I might. It’s not like you’re exactly giving us clear and present leadership here, buddy.
I know they raised you to be a better leader in a recruitment poster than you were on the ground, but those days are done.
You want loyalty, you need to do something more than remind people that you can punch us through walls.
” Imagineer showed him her wristband again.
This time, there was no levity in it. “This happened on your watch. Supermodel may have been an evil bitch who wanted to turn us all into villains when we weren’t looking, but at least she kept us safe.
Just keep that in mind while you’re putting your ex-girlfriend above all the people who didn’t run away.
At some point, you have to start rewarding us for staying, or we’re all going to go. ”
Imagineer turned and walked out of the room. Action Dude didn’t stop her.
* * *
When Action Dude finally got up and walked out of the break room, he found the American Dream waiting for him in the hall. He stopped, and groaned.
“Look, Dreamy, I’m not available for patrol right now,” he said. “I took myself off all the rosters because I’m not available. Can’t you handle it?”
“I’m more super-fast than super-strong, so no, we’re not really interchangeable, but I’m not here about patrol,” said the American Dream. Their voice was calm and level, like they were getting ready to break bad news to a child. “Imagineer called. She says Velveteen woke up.”
“Did she also say that Velveteen went straight back to sleep? Because I think that’s relevant here. Dairy Keen v. the State of Wisconsin means we can keep her as long as she’s too unwell to be released to the relevant authorities.”
“Does it also mean we don’t need to tell the relevant authorities that she’s back? Because I’m not comfortable with this. We’re on shaky legal ground.”
“Dreamy, please.”
“I’m just saying, we’re responsible for a lot of people here.
A lot of lives. People are scared of the government coming after us directly, rather than just sniffing around the fringes, and this sort of thing is what opens us to attack.
You have to think about The Super Patriots, Inc. before you think about yourself.”
“You think I’m thinking about myself? That this is about me?
” Action Dude laughed bitterly. “Oh, man, I wish this were about me. Do you have any idea how good I am at giving up what I want? I gave up the first girl I ever loved. Maybe the only girl I’ve ever loved, since it’s not like I could go falling for somebody for real when I was supposed to be in love with Yelena.
I gave up the idea of going to college because my contract required me to do too many hours a week.
I’ve given up having a secret identity and going to see my parents and every damn thing I’ve ever wanted.
You really think this is about me? This isn’t about me.
You can tell by the way I’m actually fighting for it. This is about her.”
“I’m sorry,” said the American Dream. “She was before my time, you know. I don’t even know why she’s so important that you’d want to fight for her.”
Action Dude paused and took a deep breath before he said, “I know you know that she used to be my girlfriend. I want you to understand that that has nothing to do with this.”
“Okay,” said the American Dream, with an expression that implied the exact opposite. Here, in these halls, Velveteen was always going to be the CEO’s ex.
She was going to hate that when she woke up.
They just had to get her that far. “Velma Martinez was a child hero. The company bought her, the same way it bought half its recruits. They didn’t even have to pay very much.
” That had been a shock, when he’d finally received access to the records.
For all that her parents had always been there with their hands out, ready to take whatever they were given, The Super Patriots, Inc.
had been able to purchase her for well below market value.
“So? The Super Patriots, Inc. bought a lot of people.”