It was an all-hands-on-deck situation. And by situation, Robert meant that it'd been three days of Torrance and the LA area in absolute, non-stop crisis.
It was the biggest disaster they'd seen since Shroud, which was saying something, since the ringleader this time around was more... spur of the moment and notably hadn't been plotting for the last 15 years.
The SDN had resorted to dispatching "up-and-coming heroes" (which was corporate speak for "fresh faced trainees who've never been in a fight before"). While Robert normally tried to show newbies grace, it was extremely hard when they kept nearly killing his team with their lack of experience. He'd frequently have to dispatch other Z team members--hell, even himself-- to cover for them.
His team was already having difficulty enough whenever they were forced to go toe-to-toe with the ringleader, Mimic, (or "Swiper-No-Swiping" as dubbed by the Z Team). Fighting a guy who could borrow your powers had proved to be an issue, resulting in the current buddy system they had going on.
Swiper was... an interesting figure. He'd been on the SDN radar for a bit, but only after the earthquakes did he become a problem. Him and his gang of followers had begun looting and causing overall chaos. Unfortunately, their actions had created a domino effect. Someone gets screwed over by the constant robberies and alley fights, snaps, and joins the chaos in attempt to make a positive out of a negative. Which only increased the already rapid spread of pandemonium, dragging in more people to the cycle.
Swiper had taken one of the newbie's powers and was using it to summon fucking dinosaurs. The newbie in question was now freaking out and clinging to his mech's leg, powerless and babbling about their ability to transport "things of the past into the present" and how "I didn't know it worked on living things!" Which while the information was appreciated, the limpet was preventing him from helping his team.
The dinosaurs were wreaking havoc on everyone, Chase was wrestling a whole ass T-rex, Punch-Up was duking it out with some dinosaur he couldn't name, and Invisigal was dodging a fucking velociraptor.
By the time Robert's able to remove the newbie (really gotta get the guy's name) and set him safely aside, Swiper is racing forward, past Prism and Malevola, and diving towards Flambae. The man in question barely turns around in time to avoid being tackled, but not before Swiper had, well, swiped. The flames beating back a small hoard of goons suddenly die off and Robert races forward as Swiper extends his arm to turn Flambae into a pile of ash. In a scene eerily reminiscent of the 3 am tacos, Robert shields Flambae with his suit as the villain quickly gets a handle on his new powers and unleashes a jet of fire.
He can faintly hear Flambae's colorful cursing over the roar of flames as be debates what to do. The fire Swiper's spouting isn't as hot as the ones that melted his old shield, but is quickly becoming a problem ventilation system. It's got a good filter on it for smoke and chemicals, but the plastics inside it aren't rated for the heat of flames literally licking at it. He really didn't need to be breathing in burning plastics right now, or ever really.
Pulling up the new energy shield in a bid to keep the blaze further off, he can see the goons Flambae was fighting start running towards the newbie. Sighing as he inevitably braces for the cry of some prehistoric creature or boom of an artillery cannon, he's surprised to hear the whir of heavy machinery. Before looking over to see what the FNG had cooked up, he directs the mech suit's feet forward against the rush of flames as Flambae neatly extracts himself from behind.
Flicking out a metal baton (an idea he insisted on, because while the new suit was a tank, it lacked nonlethal weapons for those without some sort of durability) he gets in range to sweep at the villain, knocking him to the ground and into unconsciousness.
"And the torch is passed back to me, Mecha Dick!" Cheers Flambae, and Robert can hear the crackle of fire behind him.
It's when he's turning around to face Flambae does he see it. Or them, rather.
Standing tall is the bulky and gleaming white design of Mecha Man Prime. Next to him is the shorter, but far more powerful suit of Astral, lacking the tell tale damage that came with Robert's time in the suit.
Between them is a sheepish but starry eyed rookie.