I have a thought, and if I was a writer, I would turn it into a fic. Unfortunately, I'm just a thinker so instead of a fic, here is my really long thought.
Robert working for Shroud:
Shroud is not Robert's biological father, he is the one who raises him though.
After killing Robbie, Shroud goes to get Robert, he's honest and tells him what's he's done.
Then gives him a choice, stay here and wait for Chase or go with him.
Robert only has to think about it for a moment.
Everyone knew what Robbie was doing was wrong, that "training" was just a word used to erase the feeling of guilt from watching the abuse. Not once did somebody report Robbie, not a single person raised their voice in concern, nobody even offered comfort in private.
Not even Chase, he saw more than anybody but chose being a hero, the team, and Robbie, over Robert.
He saw and spoke out, he questioned at the risk of a spot on the team, he made calls that were ignored.
Why choose people who turned a blind eye over the person who saved him?
So Shroud takes Robert underground with him and raises him as his own. Spending the rest of his childhood and teenage years on his schooling. Training was an after school activity that had a start an end time and didn't leave Robert trembling with bruises that weren't allowed to heal.
There was still fun, game nights, family dinners. He was raised to be part of an empire, the only difference is nobody was trying to erase him.
At 18, Robert was given a choice, if he wanted to leave and start a life, Elliot would support him.
Robert didn't want to leave, he wanted to stay and help his dad.
He trained to become Shroud's shadow, his enforcer, his left hand.
The coma still happened, the explosion, a calculated risk. (It was Robert's idea but damn if it take forever to convince Shroud to execute it.)
The world saw a missing Robert come back to continue his father's legacy and avenge him by taking on Shroud.
Shroud blowing him up garnered more support for his empire and sympathy from the right places for Robert.
Becoming a Dispatcher becomes an infiltration mission, gather more members, create new weaknesses, exploit the existing ones, and locate the pulse.
Z-team, who didn't have much loyalty towards SDN anyway, is easily persuaded to join Robert.
After all, why stand by a company that hates them, doesn't give them a fair chance, and constantly threatens to fire and send them back to jail anyway?
That's not a chance on a new life, that's cheaper labor for jobs that are unworthy of the "real" hero's.
All but Invisagal, she didn't know Robert was working for Shroud. What she did was show time and time again that her loyalty would never be secured, she would always be a loose end.
When SDN and the city thinks Z-team is their last hope at winning, when they watch Robert up on the roof with Shroud, they'll be watching their doom.
They'll watch as the team stops trying to please people that treated them like garbage and show them what real villains actually look like.
They'll watch Robert hand over the pulse and the city over to Shroud.
They'll watch their city burn because they'd rather worship a hero than save a child.
Anyway, that's the end of my thought. I did warn you it'd be long. I think it would be a really cool fic but, oh well. That would be me writing and we don't want that. 😅
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