Memory #23: A Run for the Oregon Border
Oct. 29th, 2013 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunny_earsMemories come in the form of tiny edible ginger gears in a packet tied with string. Four gears per baggg.
Velma is driving her shitty car up a back road towards Oregon, clearly feeling agitated. She needs to get across the state line and do it now.
Then she nearly hits a teenager standing in the middle of the road, and spins out. Vel panics because What the Hell, Kid, and takes a bit to notice someone is knocking on the window.
She answers and is disoriented enough to not ask important mental questions or notice that the kid has trained stage presence. It turns out his jacket conceals a superhero jumpsuit, and a fuckton of beetles, which put on his bask for him. Apparently he is 'the Begbug'. Velma blurts out her first thought which is 'that power must be killed to your love life' and is more interested in sussing out the nature of his power (is he controlling existing bugs or manifesting fake bugs) than in banter.
This gets Velam calm enough so she can start thinking of a way out of the situation. First she tries the direct approach, by saying that she's not evil, she doesn't want to fight, and really if he would just let her get on her way...
... then the rest of the team shows up. We get a teenaged girl Vel recognizes as Swallowtail, an energy projector with a butterfly theme, and with the Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division. Which implies Begbug is also with them (albeit a less photogenic member, since butterflies beat beetles). And they are spoiling for a fight with a supervillain. Great.
Vel can feel her flight instincts rising, and she figures the two teenagers are stalling for time for the rest of the team, so she better remember who that is. She remembers they have a technopath named after some kind of consumer electronic, but suddenly trying to ignore the superhero community is biting her in the butt. Then seven more teen superheros arrive -- a male motorcyclist, three fliers (two boys and a girl dressed a lot like Mary Poppins) and three teenaged-girl matter manipulators with a candy theme.
So Vel summons her own forces -- a couple of plush toys, a bunch of superhero action figures, and a fast-food kiddie meal toy. The superheros aren't impressed, but they are confused by Vel's lack of aggression: she isn't acting like a supervillain. Vel decides to expand her senses and summon anything in the area -- which took her attention for the battlefield, but the thing about fighting 'good guys' is when they see an enemy standing there not acting aggressive, they are going to focus on incapacitating her. Vel's summoned army of misfit toys does the job, even while she's tied up by caramel. She addresses them like an army of real things, telling them to go home if they have one and get in the car if they don't. Then she passed out.
Vel wakes up feeling like shit for over-exerting herself, but she can't stop yet. Also, her powers are starting to manifest outside of her conscious control in that her rabbit is getting her napkins for her nosebleed. She gets her car out of the ditch and gets back on the road. She turns the last curve for the border, and there are the junior supers again. And an army of reporters. Vel figures given the team's confidence and the presence of civilians, that means the adult roster is on call just in case. Vel stops the car, and goes to make her last stand.
Which is yelling about how, dammit she did everything right, so why won't everyone leave her alone. She mentions the 'accidents' that prevented her long-term employment, and that always seemed to occur after Marketing tried to wheedle her back. She mentioned that she had to go into hiding to be left alone. She asks the kids exactly how many supers they know who have quit.
Half the team (the half used to using their brains) are confused, but the team brick decides to start something. And then something from behind sends her flying, conveniently far enough that she is now in the state of Oregon. Vel loses consciousness again, and discovers herself surrounded by security guards, with a women in a business suit shouting at Marketing goons and several Super Patriots, including Action Dude. Vel's other memories will establish this is Governor Morgan, but this is her first time seeing her in person. Basically Governor Morgan is saying that unless they can show Vel committed a crime beyond 'used her powers without a license in California', she could stay in Oregon. Also, Vel was now licensed and authorized to superhero in the state of Oregon,. Which was news to her, but she'll take it. And, also, she'd like to go back to sleep now.
What Joy Learned
If Joy takes this one after her memory with talking to Sparkle Bright, she might figure out that final push was from Sparks. Not too gentle, because Sparkle Bright's photon manipulation isn't exactly trained for fine manipulation, but it got the job done. At the time, she didn't really care what happened.
This also hints what her powers are like without a powercap. She was controlling any toy within a several mile radius and without thinking about what each was doing, only in the general sense of 'drive off the kids and free me so I can get back on the road'. And she could feel what was going on in that general sense.
Given Joy in Aather, the whole situation will be fucked up times infinity. She kicked the ass of nine teenaged superheroes; if she had been a villain, she could have killed one or more. And Marketing had sent them in alone (at first). None of the kids were over eighteen and they had no business fighting an adult woman who could be willing to use lethal force to escape. At the time, Vel was more focused on her own concerns, but the distance -- and the presence of so many teenagers in Aather -- will make Joy even angrier. How dare they put kids in danger like that, and how dare they promise these kids that they can have normal lives afterward when Marketing makes it clear that you don't walk away from The Super Patriots Inc. if they want you to stay.
Velma is driving her shitty car up a back road towards Oregon, clearly feeling agitated. She needs to get across the state line and do it now.
Then she nearly hits a teenager standing in the middle of the road, and spins out. Vel panics because What the Hell, Kid, and takes a bit to notice someone is knocking on the window.
She answers and is disoriented enough to not ask important mental questions or notice that the kid has trained stage presence. It turns out his jacket conceals a superhero jumpsuit, and a fuckton of beetles, which put on his bask for him. Apparently he is 'the Begbug'. Velma blurts out her first thought which is 'that power must be killed to your love life' and is more interested in sussing out the nature of his power (is he controlling existing bugs or manifesting fake bugs) than in banter.
This gets Velam calm enough so she can start thinking of a way out of the situation. First she tries the direct approach, by saying that she's not evil, she doesn't want to fight, and really if he would just let her get on her way...
... then the rest of the team shows up. We get a teenaged girl Vel recognizes as Swallowtail, an energy projector with a butterfly theme, and with the Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division. Which implies Begbug is also with them (albeit a less photogenic member, since butterflies beat beetles). And they are spoiling for a fight with a supervillain. Great.
Vel can feel her flight instincts rising, and she figures the two teenagers are stalling for time for the rest of the team, so she better remember who that is. She remembers they have a technopath named after some kind of consumer electronic, but suddenly trying to ignore the superhero community is biting her in the butt. Then seven more teen superheros arrive -- a male motorcyclist, three fliers (two boys and a girl dressed a lot like Mary Poppins) and three teenaged-girl matter manipulators with a candy theme.
So Vel summons her own forces -- a couple of plush toys, a bunch of superhero action figures, and a fast-food kiddie meal toy. The superheros aren't impressed, but they are confused by Vel's lack of aggression: she isn't acting like a supervillain. Vel decides to expand her senses and summon anything in the area -- which took her attention for the battlefield, but the thing about fighting 'good guys' is when they see an enemy standing there not acting aggressive, they are going to focus on incapacitating her. Vel's summoned army of misfit toys does the job, even while she's tied up by caramel. She addresses them like an army of real things, telling them to go home if they have one and get in the car if they don't. Then she passed out.
Vel wakes up feeling like shit for over-exerting herself, but she can't stop yet. Also, her powers are starting to manifest outside of her conscious control in that her rabbit is getting her napkins for her nosebleed. She gets her car out of the ditch and gets back on the road. She turns the last curve for the border, and there are the junior supers again. And an army of reporters. Vel figures given the team's confidence and the presence of civilians, that means the adult roster is on call just in case. Vel stops the car, and goes to make her last stand.
Which is yelling about how, dammit she did everything right, so why won't everyone leave her alone. She mentions the 'accidents' that prevented her long-term employment, and that always seemed to occur after Marketing tried to wheedle her back. She mentioned that she had to go into hiding to be left alone. She asks the kids exactly how many supers they know who have quit.
Half the team (the half used to using their brains) are confused, but the team brick decides to start something. And then something from behind sends her flying, conveniently far enough that she is now in the state of Oregon. Vel loses consciousness again, and discovers herself surrounded by security guards, with a women in a business suit shouting at Marketing goons and several Super Patriots, including Action Dude. Vel's other memories will establish this is Governor Morgan, but this is her first time seeing her in person. Basically Governor Morgan is saying that unless they can show Vel committed a crime beyond 'used her powers without a license in California', she could stay in Oregon. Also, Vel was now licensed and authorized to superhero in the state of Oregon,. Which was news to her, but she'll take it. And, also, she'd like to go back to sleep now.
What Joy Learned
If Joy takes this one after her memory with talking to Sparkle Bright, she might figure out that final push was from Sparks. Not too gentle, because Sparkle Bright's photon manipulation isn't exactly trained for fine manipulation, but it got the job done. At the time, she didn't really care what happened.
This also hints what her powers are like without a powercap. She was controlling any toy within a several mile radius and without thinking about what each was doing, only in the general sense of 'drive off the kids and free me so I can get back on the road'. And she could feel what was going on in that general sense.
Given Joy in Aather, the whole situation will be fucked up times infinity. She kicked the ass of nine teenaged superheroes; if she had been a villain, she could have killed one or more. And Marketing had sent them in alone (at first). None of the kids were over eighteen and they had no business fighting an adult woman who could be willing to use lethal force to escape. At the time, Vel was more focused on her own concerns, but the distance -- and the presence of so many teenagers in Aather -- will make Joy even angrier. How dare they put kids in danger like that, and how dare they promise these kids that they can have normal lives afterward when Marketing makes it clear that you don't walk away from The Super Patriots Inc. if they want you to stay.