Lolzwaitwhat

Literally what I make people do

[ultrafacts]

According to the CDC, in 10 percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch the child do it, having no idea it is happening. Drowning does not look like drowning—Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene magazine, described the Instinctive Drowning Response like this:

“Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled before speech occurs.

Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble—they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the Instinctive Drowning Response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long—but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

Head low in the water, mouth at water level

Head tilted back with mouth open

Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

Eyes closed

Hair over forehead or eyes

Not using legs—vertical

Hyperventilating or gasping

Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

Trying to roll over on the back

Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK—don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you all right?” If they can answer at all—they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents—children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

Source/article: [x]

Follow Ultrafacts for more facts!

[mermaibee]

BOOST FOR THE SUMMER. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

[1q8njk-deactivated20221112]

Can I just say thank you to OP for putting such a detailed description on this?

I’ve been a lifeguard for 6 years now and of all the saves I’ve done, maybe two or three had people drowning in the stereotypical thrashing style. And even those, like the save I made last weekend, it was exactly like OP describes where the person’s head is going in and out of the water but it isn’t long enough to get any air. Mostly you recognize drowning by the look on someone’s face. If someone looks wide eyed and terrified or confused, chances are they’re drowning. That look of “oh shit” is pretty easily recognizable. And even if you can’t tell for sure: GO AFTER THEM ANYWAY. I’ve done “saves” where a kid was pretending to drown and I mistook it for real drowning, but that’s preferable to a kid ACTUALLY drowning.

Also please remember that even strong swimmers can drown if they have a medical emergency, get cramps, or get too tired. If your friend knows how to swim but they’re acting funny get them to land. And even if someone can respond when you ask them if they need help, if they say they do need help? GO HELP THEM.

However . If the victim is a stranger, I can’t recommend trying to get them. Lifeguards literally train to escape “attacks,” because people who are drowning can freak the fuck out and grab you and make YOU drown as well. If you do go in after someone, take hold of them from the back and talk to them the whole time. IF YOU ARE GRABBED: duck down into the water as low as you can get. The person is panicking and won’t want to go under water and should release you. Shove up at their hands and push them away from you as you duck under. Don’t die trying to save someone else.

Please guys, read and memorize this post. Not all places have lifeguards. Being able to recognize drowning is such an important skill to have and you can save someone’s life.

[inspector-loki]

Just incase!

[witchofobsession-deactivated202]

In a water park once, I was suddenly grabbed by a child and he dragged me under the water without warning. I was going to get angry with him when I resurfaced because I thought he was being an ass, until I looked at him go back in and out hyperventilating the entire time. I grabbed him under his arms and began trying to drag him out while screaming for the lifeguard.

When the lifeguard got us both out, a woman came running down and accused me of harming him and said he had been completely fine in the water. That there was no reason to drag him out of there. The lifeguard had to explain to her that her son had been drowning, to which her response was to say that she didn’t hear him call for help.

People seriously need to learn the signs.

[princedrewwrites]

http://spotthedrowningchild.com/ really demonstrates how easy it is to miss drowning 

[snailchimera]

Small addition regarding drowning victims potentially drowning you if you don’t know what you’re doing:

I’ve been in the water since before I could walk, but one time when I was little I got caught in something (not a rip tide I think because I would have been moved much further away, but definitely a strong current of some kind, at least for baby me) and pulled down. I don’t remember a lot besides panicking and everything feeling the wrong speed, but I know I latched on to my cousin’s leg hard enough to draw blood and that’s how I got back out. Which is good! But I wish to stress that I was maybe five and weighed about as much as a medium size dog at most, she was a strong healthy swimmer in her late teens, and with me latched on like that she couldn’t swim. If someone else hadn’t seen her go down all of a sudden (I think she did shout, what with the tiny death grip nails) we might have both been dead. A drowning person doesn’t have to be capable of physically overpowering you under normal circumstances to panic-drown you.

[lolzwaitwhat]

I have more questions after watching TADC episode 8

spoilers ahead! Don’t read until you’ve watched it.

Alright, now after that episode, it has answered several big questions and confirmed what many people have believed for a while, but I have some more questions now that we’ve seen it and while I am excited to see how this will all wrap up in episode 9, it won’t be out for a while so I’m going to just throw my new questions out into the void and hope we get answers.

So, first question, which is honestly my biggest one: why would programmers at C&A go into the world Caine created at all? Kinger told the gang that he helped Make Caine to be a creative AI. And the scene at the beginning with the red dot showed that it was giving them what they wanted for a bit, but when its ideas got too wacky, it was trapped and replaced. It got out, ate the other one and then made a bunch of weird shapes before it made the circus around it. So what happened between the circle scene and the programmers being in the game? Why would they go into the world? And why would they go in via headsets? Like they couldn’t see what was going on via their own screens? Or couldn’t make an avatar to approach Caine and get a look? Why did they personally need to go in and see it? And why with a headset? Again, why couldn’t they just look through the screens? This bothers me so much.

Second question: What did the people who went with Ragatha to the abandoned building do after she put on the headset?

It’s clear based on the scene where she joins the circus that she hadn’t been alone when she put on the headset, as she asks other people, not in the circus, to help her get it off. I mean, she’s a people pleaser at heart and while she does work in real estate, I can’t see her being comfortable going around an abandoned building without prompting from others. Also abandoned buildings are generally not some place you should wander around alone for safety reasons. So she HAD to be with other people. So what did they do once she put on the headset? Did they ditch her? Or did they JOIN her in the digital realm? Kinger had been the only human with Caine after Queenie abstracted, but there were several faces outside the ones in that scene with Kinger and Queenie at the beginning on the doors. And there were a good amount of faces on those doors outside the main characters. It’s possible that Ragatha was the first in a second batch of humans who came to Caine’s little world.

Third question: is Bubble what is left of the blue dot from the beginning of the episode? This is kinda more just because Bubble was so hostile at the beginning with Caine before being so scrambled. If Bubble was the blue dot, it could be its resentment of Caine for eating it and forcing it to just be another puppet in his little world coming out before Caine basically lobotomized them.

Fourth question: How will Caine react once he returns in episode 9? because let’s be real, there is no way Caine is staying dead, even when someone presses delete, nothing really is permanently deleted on a computer. I mean, as everyone in the comment second has pointed out, Caine has been trapped with Humans for a long time now and I’ll bet he’s felt like he hasn’t been able to fulfill his purpose for a while, as he cannot free them and they want to go home. and then he has a freak out after feeling angry, unappreciated and began lashing out. Then the last things they all said to him and what he did to them before he was deleted and the fact that he was, in fact, deleted by the man who made him. There are going to be a lot of feelings and well, Caine doesn’t really understand feelings. he might be scared or angry again or maybe they have an apology fest? I dunno, it could go any way for this, but I’m curious for this one.

Question five: besides Pomni and Kinger, have any of the other characters conjured things into the world without them or us realizing it? Like did Zooble conjure the corn to upset Jax in the suggestion box episode, because I don’t think corn is common in bars. Did Jax unknowingly summon all those keys one night because he wanted to explore his surroundings? Maybe. Let me know your thoughts.

Final question: why did Caine make the amazing digital circus?

Was it supposed to be a safe haven for him, a place where he could create without judgement by the ones who made him ( the circus kinda looked like a cage)?

Or was it supposed to be his magnum opus, his proof that he could entertain the masses and be what they made him to be?

welp, those are my questions, hopefully we get answers in the final episode! Let me know your thoughts!

[krismasdreemurr00]

[witheringsapphic-deactivated202]

please reblog this until i find my true love. i am so alone

[tables-but-with-a-very-long-name]

Made it poly friendly

[witheringsapphic-deactivated202]

oh hell yeah even better

[courtjester69420]

Made one for aromantic trans people 👍

[queen-mihai]

Reblogging for poly people, mono people, and people who need their keys

[lolzwaitwhat]

FOR TRUE LOVE, HAPPINESS AND FINDING YOUR DAMN KEYS!!!

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic 10

Herman rubbed his eyes on the bus ride to work, yesterday had been exhausting, but coming home to eat dinner with his Mom and Grandma had been really nice. His family hadn't eaten at the same table in a long time. He had planned to look into what Void had said last night, about being distractions for those trying to build a case. But he'd fallen asleep on their plastic covered couch before he could, waking up with several towels and blankets on him when his alarm went off on his phone. Thankfully his mom had left him a spare charger he was using now to bring his phone back to full battery before work.

She had offered him a ride into work last night over dinner, but he said he'd take the bus. He told her that he needed to take some time for himself this morning, to process everything that happened yesterday, and his mother told him she understood, but he felt kinda bad for turning her down.

He put his comm in one ear and placed a ear bud into the other, a video titled 'A Summary of the Diamondback trial' was queued up since he found it while shoving breakfast into his face. Not caring about how soggy the toast was as he chewed. He'd had soggy toast countless time over the years, as much as he would prefer not soggy toast, he could deal with it.

He was about to check a list of time stamps to see if he could find something about Void and her brother, when something caught the corner of his eye. Well, two somethings. Two scarily familiar someones.

Sapphire Shooter and Slurry got on the bus and walked to the spots opposite him and sat down.

He felt his stomach twist, why were they there? He would've thought they'd take an Uber or rent a car or a taxi or whatever. But here? On the bus? On HIS bus? He grabbed his things and looked to the doors only to see them shut and the bus start to move.

Shit.

The bus wasn't completely full, but there were still a decent amount of people on board. Plus he knew his powers couldn't do much against either woman and starting a fight here would be bad, but he also wasn't sure they'd let him leave the bus alone or unscathed.

Help.

He needed help.

He needed... heroes. HEROES! His team! Call them via his comm. His comm? No, they'd hear him too, they were too close... He needed to think -WAIT, THE GROUP CHAT!

He quickly pulled up the group chat on his phone and typed in, 'Attackers from yesterday on my bus, HELP!' and was about to hit send, before Sapphire said, "No need to call for back up. We are literally here because our boss froze our rental car in the parking lot in a block of ice."

Herman paused, recalling that he noticed a car he'd never seen before stuck in the ice. At first Then he worried it was his Mom's rental car, but she came via teleporting hero bringing her here. Then he worried it was Void's as she was new, only for him to remember Void mentioning she shadow travelled everywhere so she didn't drive either. Then he remembered about her mugs still being in the sink in the break room and the car had been forgotten, until now.

"I-I was wondering whose c-car that was..." He said nervously.

"Yeah, we called the car rental place and they said since we called as soon as we knew about it, they wouldn't charge us extra fees if the car needs more time to defrost than we agreed to in the contract. But we might have to pay for any damages to the car, so we figured the bus was the best way to go money wise until we have a better idea of how much the repairs will be."

"T-they wouldn't let y-you go h-home for the i-investigation?" He asked, wondering why his Mother didn't demand they head back home ASAP away from their office.

"My guess is that Void hasn't found a place here yet." Slurry said, her voice not as terrifying as it was in the hallway yesterday when they were trying to kill them, it was almost nonchalant as she then said, "So she probably still lives somewhere on the East Coast. And having us stay here means we can't attack her at home."

"D-do you know w-where she lives?" He asked nervously, silently praying that they didn't.

"No, or she might have never made it to work yesterday." Sapphire huffed, annoyed at the idea they couldn't attack her at home, where she should be allowed to feel safe from the dangers of the world.

Herman felt a surge of anger pulse through him. These two seriously called themselves heroes and talked about killing someone who literally forced a chunk of pointy rock out of her own leg when he told her his vision was getting blurry and barely kept her own wound plugged while trying to reconnect his blood vessels with her powers and put shards of his bones back into the right places. Softly explaining what she was doing to help him relax when he suddenly felt things moving around in his body without him moving and apologizing for not asking first before starting.

You know what? Fuck these two, he was going to give them a piece of his mind.

"You know, for so called heroes, you two sure can talk about taking lives so easily." he spat, "I work with ex-criminals every day and none of them talk about killing people like you two do." Which was not technically a lie. Coupe had mentioned killing others before, but it was more in a 'this is how it is done' or 'I did this before' kind of way. And okay, she'd threatened members of the team before, but it was more like a sibling 'I'll kill you' than an actual 'I'll kill you' from the former assassin.

The two in front of him seemed surprised by his little outburst, but Sapphire recovered first, "Listen here, kid. Void is nothing but trouble. She and her brother terrorized a community for years when they were just teenagers, all while helping the wrong people fake evidence against our leader!"

"Oh really?" He asked, not backing down, "Two teenagers were able to help forge evidence of crimes bad enough to get someone sent to Blackout prison? I don't think so. If you two are any indication of how he was like, then I think Void and her brother did the community a favor."

"Why you little-" Sapphire started before his phone rang. He did as he'd seen Prism do and held up his finger to silence her while checked the caller ID, it was Void.

He then did what he felt like Sonar would be proud of and looked them right in the eyes as he accepted the call and answered, "Hello? Void?"

The two females across from him froze, as if uncertain if she found out they were on the same bus as he was or if she was nearby or what.

"Ah, Water Boy, Morning! Sorry to bother you so early, but I didn't know who else to ask... or have anyone else's phone number but yours 'n our boss's so yeah, but anyways, does anyone on the team have a banana allergy?" She asked.

"Bananas? No. I don't think so." He told her, getting a confused look from Sapphire. Slurry was harder to read in crystal form, but he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to get much from her expressions no matter which form she was in.

"What about nuts?" She posed.

"Not sure. But I honestly don't think anyone on the team has allergies, but let me message the group chat and check." He said before tapping back into the group message, deleting his previous text and typing in the question, feeling more confident in himself as he kept acting nonchalant despite the fact that the two who attacked them the day before were just across the aisle from him, "I'll also ask Prism to add you in, I think she was going to yesterday, but then..."

"Yeah, Sapphire 'n Slurry. Ugh. I got a text last noight that they were staying nearby as a precaution." Void groaned as he carefully wiped away the water on his screen to keep it from being hard to read.

"Yeah, I found that out this morning." He said lightly.

"Really, they at the office already?" she asked.

"No, they're on my bus." He said calmly, "With me. Right now."

"Fuckin'-ARE YOU OKAY?!" she blurted, concerned, "Do you need back up? If there is a tunnel or something comin' up, I can be there as soon as possible. Or I can get you out of there if you need it. Just let me know what you need roight now 'n let me know how dark it is around you, okay?"

Hmm, back up might be a good idea... After all, they started attacking them both in a Superhero Dispatch Center filled with innocents who were trying to coordinate rescues or aid, they might attack him and put him and the innocent people on the bus in danger who were just trying to get to work or run errands...

"The first thing might be nice, I'm almost at the tunnel." He told her.

"Tunnel?" Sapphire repeated quietly.

"Stay on the loine, I'll be there in a tick." Void told him as he got notifications from the group chat asking why he wanted to know if anyone had allergies to bananas and nuts.

Flambae then asked if he was trying to ask them about a sex thing. Herman flushed at that before he typed out that Void asked about it, and then asked Prism if she could add their newest member to the group chat for future questions before wiping at the screen again. Flambae then asked if he was an idiot, and said that Void was totally flirting with him. Coupe argued that she could be asking to make sure her lunch didn't make them sick or something, that she'd used something like that in the past to eliminate a target. Golem then said, 'Five bucks says she's just offering us banana bread.' Phenomaman then asked if he brought any allergies in the edible arrangements he brought in to share. He was told 'no' before the others began typing in their bets.

He then pulled his eyes away from the phone to see the tunnel entrance and smiled as the inside of the bus became dark. He then felt a body hit the seat beside him before he heard a voice growl, "You two haven't been pickin' on him, have you?" He heard a gasp from the other side of the bus, most likely Sapphire's and what sounded like buzzing as well.

"We have not." Slurry's voice sounded angry as she then said, "We told him the truth about you, he doesn't believe us."

"That's because he's smart." Void said as the light from the end of the tunnel grew brighter. Once they were out of the tunnel, he found Void next to him, wearing a dark blouse, dark striped pants and combat boots, much like she'd appeared to wear yesterday. Only this time her hair was in a braid that draped over her shoulder, she had a long, black hooded vest on and a shoulder bag.

"G-good morning." He greeted, "I like your vest."

She brightened instantly, "Daw, thank you! It has pockets!" She said gleefully as she shoved her fists into a pair of pockets on the vest and waved them around a bit, her feet kicking with excitement at the compliment.

Her glee was interrupted by a buzz in her bag, that had her pull her hands from the pockets and pull her phone from her bag and looked at it. "Huh... Water Boy, is this Prism?" she asked, holding her phone up for him to see the invite to the group chat with Prism's username as. the host.

"Yeah, I asked her to add you since everyone wanted to know why you wanted to know about allergies." He told her.

"Ah roight, nearly forgot." She then dug into her bag and held up a loaf shaped parcel covered in foil for his inspection, the scent of bananas hitting his nose as she told him, "My landlady had some bakin' thing all day yesterday with her mates because her friend's granddaughter has just gotten powers 'n used them ta grow a banana tree in the backyard so they needed ta use all the bananas before they go bad. So I have two big paper bags full of banana bread at home 'n wanted ta know if anyone wanted some."

Welp, looks like Golem won that bet.

"Y-you might want to t-tell them that." He said, "They s-started making b-bets on why y-you'd ask a-about allergies."

"Why?" She asked, "I mean, people normally ask that when they're bringin' in food, roight?"

"I hate your guts, but I have to agree with you there." Sapphire said from across the aisle. Slurry nodding in agreement.

"Thanks. You want some?" she asked.

"... Are you seriously offering-?" Sapphire began.

"I have two large paper bags full of freshly baked banana bread that I don't want ta go bad," Void cut her off, "So, yes, I am offerin'. Consider it a bribe ta leave Water Boy alone if you're gonna be sharin' a bus with him for a whoile."

Slurry and Sapphire exchanged a look before Slurry said, "Two please."

Void handed the one she was already holding out for them while digging for another one in her bag while he checked on the bet. Once she handed the other one over, she got a 'thank you' from both of them, much to Herman's surprise before Void began tapping on her phone and reading the messages from this morning.

"The fuck? How does askin' about if someone is allergic to bananas 'n nuts-ooooh..."

"Y-yeah," Herman said bashfully, "T-that's why I a-asked Prism to a-add you. I think it's b-best if they heard f-from you."

"Got ya." She said before typing into her phone, 'I'm bringing in banana bread, you weirdos.' and hitting send.

There were more dings as several people lamented getting it wrong while Phenomaman said he was looking forward to it and Golem insisted on getting his winnings first thing when everyone came in. He then sent a message saying 'How much do you have? Because my kid loves banana bread.'

"Golem has a kid?!" Void blurted. He noticed Slurry leaning forward, clearly interested in what she just said. Weird...

"Y-yeah, he adopted a K-kaiju a while ago." He told her.

"... you have pictures?" she asked.

"N-not me personally, b-but we have a c-channel for that..." He said before leaning over to point to the correct channel on her phone. Once they got to it, she scrolled for a bit until he pointed to the right picture.

"Woah, he's got a big one. I could give him a bag alone for tha' one." She said.

"Y-yeah." he agreed.

The rest of the bus ride was pleasant enough, the banana bread bribe seemed to keep the two across the aisle from bothering them as they chatted... or you know, the threat in the dark. But he'd like to think it was the banana bread.

Once they got to the office, Prism caught them coming off the bus along with Sapphire and Slurry. She glared and put herself between the two groups, checking them out for injuries.

"I-it's- we're okay." Herman said, "Void bribed them with banana bread."

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Well, it's either they took the bread or-" Void then pulled out a few kitchen knives and a taser from her bag.

"Wait, that's what the buzzing was?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said plainly, "my brother made me one strong enough ta take out Slurry in case I ever ran into her alone. Didn't bring it yesterday 'cause I didn't think I'd need it. Charged it last noight."

"You would." Slurry sighed as she and Sapphire passed them to enter the building.

"You actually threatened them with that?" Prism asked, clearly amused.

"Hard ta say." Void said lightly as she put her things back into her bag, "It was dark."

Prism chuckled before leading them into the building, staying close to them and chatting. They dropped off a big bag of bread onto the break room counter (after turning off the light to get it out of her place), a note next to it encouraging any and all to help themselves and that there nuts in them. Then they dropped off their things at their lockers before they went to the training room, where the others were waiting, Golem and Invisigal seeming to hold court while the others ask how they would train today.

"We've already got good synergy," Invisigal said, indicating herself and Golem with a wave of her hand, "So we don't really need to. We're not rookies like Water Boy and the new girl."

"So you two are just going to fuck around and watch me work?" Prism said, as they joined the group, her finger pointed at Invisigal, "We are training together whether you like it or not. All three of us."

Invisigal groaned, Golem on the other hand smiled and walked over to them, "Morning. You got the bread?"

Void smiled "I set up a spot in the break room for people to take. I have another bag for you ta take home later. Just remoind me before quittin' toime."

"Thanks. Both for the bread and win."

"I only supplied the bread." Void said plainly.

"Anyways, how exactly are the three of us going to train, like I said, it's not like we're rookies like Water Boy and Void that one of us can train." Invisigal pointed out.

"Y-you could try s-seeing if Prism could m-make herself and Golem i-invisible while holding still." Water boy offered.

"Ah, loike the Invisible Woman?" Void asked, understanding whwhere he'd gotten the idea from.

"Y-yeah, she used l-light to make herself i-invisible and m-made invisible forcefields, m-maybe Prism could d-do that too?" he suggested.

"Maybe she can make lasers?" Void posed, "I mean, she made that model three dimensional so I could know what it was supposed ta be loike when I couldn't see outsoide the body yesterday. Maybe she could also make tools or weapons that herself or others could use?"

"I have questions about what you did yesterday, actually." Coupe said, "You simply said the inside of the human body is darker than most think, which is true, but it doesn't explain how you can use that to help Water boy from going into shock or plugged that hole in your leg."

"Ah, so uh, I actually had ta do some homework ta be able ta do that." She admitted, "I mean, the first toime I did it, I was desperate 'n it took me a second to realize what I was doin' 'n then just connected whatever blood vessels I could to each other without realizin' that I could be mixin' oxidized blood with unoxidized blood or putting them in the wrong place or anythin' loike that. So it didn't go over too well, but it kept my brother aloive long enough until we could get to professionals. The doctor we worked with had me read 'bout blood vessels, bones, 'n how all tha' worked before I was allowed ta do it again. It took a bit ta learn how to even look in there again..." She rubbed at the back of her head, "So for Water Boy, I remembered some stuff about blood vessels 'n reconnected them before I started moving the bits of bone by havin' them shadow travel insoide his body from the spot they were ta the spots I could remember them supposed ta bein' in. As for me, just reconnected blood vessels 'n used the darkness ta fill what was gone. I haven't done it in a whoile, so it was hard for me ta keep both up very well without issues, but I'm just glad I remembered any of it. Should probably skim over some medical text books again as a refresher before I try that again..."

"You did that while still in high school?" Coupe asked, "That's quite impressive."

"N-not really." Void said, a bit embarrassed, "I was barely in an American hoigh school for a semester before I couldn't go anymore because of Doiamondback, so I koinda just did what I could ta learn what I needed to do ta survive. Once he was convicted, then I got my GED."

"And college?" Coupe asked, "You said you used the gems to pay for college."

"Yeah, but not fer me. The gems were mainly used ta pay for my brother's college. I took lessons from a couple of different places afterwards tryin' ta figure out what I wanted ta do now that I had opportunities outsoide villainy." Void explained.

"Why did you only spend it on your brother's education?" Coupe asked.

"Because Doiamondback's daughter lied 'n got him expelled from MIT 'n he couldn't get into other colleges after that. 'N he knew what he wanted ta learn. He knew he wanted to build and go ta college. So, once the truth came out, he could go to school again, so we used the money so he could go to Harvard-"

"YESSS!!!" Sonar cried, pumping his fists, "HARVARD! HARVARD! HARVARD!"

The rest of them either chuckled or rolled their eyes at his antics before Robert's voice called out through their comms, "Okay, first things first, thank you Void for the banana bread, I am eating some now with Chase. Second of all, I have a call about a fight and a fire at a high rise hotel. Water Boy, Void, you two are up."

Herman looked to Void, who was stiff and wide eyed, as he said, "We're on it, just send the location!"

She looked a bit nervous, but followed him out of the training room, the others wishing them luck on the way out.

"N-nervous?" He asked as soon as he was sure that most of the team wouldn't hear them.

"Yeah." she admitted, stopping where they'd been attacked the day before, picking up a gem from the floor that had been flush to the wall, Herman stopping a couple feet away to stare as she said, "I-I'm koinda scared that I'll mess up again... I wasn't very helpful against Slurry yesterday 'n I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from her once I knew she was there..." She stared at the gem as Herman quickly wracked his brain trying to come up with something to say before he remembered what Robert had said to him after his first day as a hero, about not being afraid to mess up and that his stutter was a confidence issue, that he shouldn't be afraid to say the wrong thing.

And here was the time he needed to say something without second guessing himself.

Oh boy, here goes nothing...

"I get it. It's scary. But do you know what's worse?" Herman asked.

"What?" she asked, her eyes moving away from the gem.

"Not doing anything at all." He said, "We have a better chance of helping more people if you do something, even if you do mess up. So- uh..." shit, what else should he say? Uh, come on, thinkkkkk...

"So we should get movin'?" she said, as if finishing his statement as she put the gem in her pocket as she sucked in a fortifying breath, "You're roight. Better to try 'n mess up then leave all those people in danger without a chance..." she then walked over to him, "Okay, anything stick out about that hotel? Shadow travel works best when you have a person or landmark to use to find out where you're going..."

He smiled and told her about the hotel, glad that he'd spoken up without letting his insecurities stop him.

Today he was going to make up for any mistakes he made yesterday and show everyone that he WAS the kind of hero that Robert and Void said he was.

Nothing would go wrong!

[formerlyluckymanticore]

Reblog if you will never. Ever. Use AI in your writing.

[callmesel]

Are people on Tumblr aware that you can customize your kudo message??

got it from this twt post (has more stuff in the thread)

og reddit post here

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic 9

After lunch, Robert went back to work, making sure to thank Galen in person for his help before he sat back down. Even though the man had super hearing and he could've just said it from his desk and he would've heard him, he deserved that thank you in person.

Galen had heard his team in trouble in the building and told Chase where Robert needed to go. Robert made sure to get his number before going to his desk as well, just in case. He also planned to use some of his next paycheck to buy him a beer as an extra thank you.

... Huh, he had a lot more numbers in his phone than he'd had in years. His team (now including Void's number). Blonde Blazer. Royd. And now Galen.

It felt kinda nice to have more people than Beef's vet and Chase in there... He had the other members of his dad's old team in there too, but he doubted the numbers still belonged to them, and quite honestly, he didn't care. They moved on to other teams after Robbie Robertson Jr. passed away. Yeah, they maybe sent him a text on his birthday and on Christmas, but that stopped maybe three years after his dad was gone and they never really asked him how he was since the funeral.

"So?" Chase asked, "Those two kids going to be okay?"

"Yeah. Malevola patched them both up, but we have a medical team running tests just in case. Got them looking at Sonar too, because of his reaction to the cold. Everyone on the team is going to have to be interviewed, including me. And the team pocketed most of the jewels that were shot at them." He summed up.

"You take any?" he asked.

"Nope, they need them for the investigation. They had someone come in and count all the ones stolen from the scene while we ate." He told him before assigning Flambae and Invisigal to two separate calls. Making a mental note to keep Malevola and Punch Up from going out until they were done with their interviews. Not that Punch Up was supposed to be taking calls today because he was supposed to be training, but he had a feeling that he might want to send him out on an assignment after the interview. Just to get any rage he could be holding on to out of his system.

"... Anything else I should know?" He asked once the two were on their way.

"Yeah, you ever hear of a hero named Frostbite?" he posed.

He blinked, "Yeah, she's one of the good ones, always asked me about you when I'd see her. And not just 'how's the kid?' She'd ask how you were doing in school, your friends, things you liked, that kind of thing. Actually gave a shit about the answers too. She asked your Dad about you too, but he would always insist that they 'only discuss the issue at hand'."

He then looked at his screen, "She'd also treat me to meals and insist I rest instead of just running back home after workin'. Probably one of the few people whoever asked me to slow down."

"Did you listen? Robert asked, genuinely curious.

"At first, because I was hopin' to have a shot, then when I found out she was actually married, I'd at least let her buy me dinner first before I'd bolt." He admitted with a chuckle, then he sobered as he then revealed that, "And, uh, she's the one who sent all those snacks to your house after your Dad was killed. You remember, the one with ten boxes of Twinkies and shit?"

Robert nodded.

It was kinda weird. He didn't remember Diamondbacks' disrespect at the funeral at all, but he DEFINITELY remembered the MASSIVE snack basket that was sent to the house after his father died. That basket held the first things he'd eaten since his father's passing. He remembered it having all of his favorite snacks. Not just the items, but in the flavors he liked and whoever sent it had taken the time to take out the flavors he didn't like. He also remembered the card ended up illegible due to him getting it wet when he went to grab a glass of water, so he had no idea who sent it.

He'd have to thank her for that later, maybe he would when it was his turn to be interviewed, if she was there.

"She's also Water Boy's mother." He told him.

"... Huh." Chase mused, "... I mean, I suppose I can see some resemblance... And with the powers, I guess it makes sense based on her mother's powers..."

"Her mother's powers?" Robert asked.

"Called herself 'Khione' off some Greek myth or whatever. Was a hero in your grandfathers' day apparently. Froze everything she touched." He said, "Also has freeze breath or ice breath or whatever people call it." He then made a face, "But she is also a frigid old bitch who is probably clinging onto life through spite alone." Chase told him, "Met her one time and I couldn't get away from her fucking fast enough even with the powers."

Robert made a face before getting another call and sending out Coupe and Golem on assignment together.

"Yeah, the family apparently has had powers for generations, old bitch was real proud of it too, you know the type." Chase told him and Robert could feel him roll his eyes from the other side of the cubical wall.

Not that he could blame him, he'd met the type plenty of times. Had to, his father would be invited to events held by that type when he was a kid and he'd have to go too. Because even if they didn't have powers, they had money and the suit and two generations of heroes in their family name.

Hated those parties. They were boring, stupid and he'd punched three of those douchebag kids in the face for implying the suit was a pathetic attempt to make their family worth something and telling them that he'd never be a real hero. It would have been more but Chase or his father often separated them. His father scolding him while Chase just said, "I get it, but they're not worth the lecture."

Funny thing was, years later, he got to punch those same three people again as Mechaman after they'd wasted their family's fortunes and went into crime.

And that shit was so satisfying, he'd actually texted Chase after those times and told him about it.

He got another call and quickly snapped back into focus. He was down almost half his team and needed to stay on task.

The rest of the day went by pretty quick, Robert got texts when members of his team were done with interviews and when they were cleared from medical. Thankfully Water Boy, Void and Sonar were going to be okay. And, mercifully, he'd gotten call about some pervert near a gym so he was able to send an irritated Punch Up out after the interview and the Irishman was in a much better mood when he came back to resume leading the training and thanking Coupe for her covering for him in his absence.

Sure there were reports of excessive violence in regards to dick punches from the guy who was arrested. But at the same time, don't don't expose your dick to people at the gym through those giant ass windows and expect people not to request 'The guy who only punches dicks from that video' when they call in.

Finally, after the work was done and the last of his team finished their interviews, he finally went in for his turn, asking Chase if Beef could have a sleepover at his place just in case the interview took a while.

The interviewer thankfully was fine with making it quick, asking for contact information to ask more questions if needed later before they dove in. He also got a basic overview of what happened outside of what he knew from the CCTV from the hallway, heard the assailants reasons for their little stunt (Void's presence) and that they definitely got the information from someone at their office, but wouldn't say who. Apparently Slurry also made some comments about finding Golem physically attractive and was asked to let them know if she started harassing him. Which gave Robert a lot more questions about why that would be necessary and all of that had him staying until dark.

He was making his way towards the parking lot after grabbing his belongs and texting a warning to Golem when he saw Frostbite and Water Boy talking before Water Boy grabbed at his head and shouted, "I forgot about the mugs!" And dashed back towards the entrance, "I'll be fine on the bus, Mom, you take the Uber and go home!" He insisted.

Well well well, no stutter there. That was good.

He stopped when he saw Robert, "B-Boss, I, uh-"

"I heard you." He said plainly as he moved aside, "Mugs. But then I want you to go home. I better not see you cleaning up late again."

Water Boy looked relieved, "Yes sir!" He said before running inside.

Robert looked at Frostbite and held up his keys, "I'll drive him home. You go ahead."

"You sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, I need to make sure he doesn't try to clean up the building late into the night anyways." He told her.

She chuckled, "His father was like that too. Always helping me clean up puddles from melted snow or ice I'd make."

"Speaking of fathers." He said, "Thank you for the basket you sent back then."

She gave him a sad smile, "Of course. I hope you don't mind I put so many Twinkies in. Chase said they were your favorite, but in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have sent so many boxes..."

"Honestly, the food you sent was the first thing I ate after my father died. And I ate three of those boxes in one day, so I'm glad you sent that many." He admitted, making her laugh.

"Have you spoken with Chase in a while?" she asked.

"Yeah, he sits right next to me in the dispatcher room." He paused, "Do you know about the-?"

"Not until I bumped into him in the hallway earlier." She told him, "It was good to see him though, regardless of the circumstances."

Robert considered how to reply to this. Questions bubbling in his brain as the events and information he'd gained stirred around in his brain, his work being down now and his mind allowed to process and ponder new facts.

Should he ask if she knew what could happen to Chase and that's why she asked him to rest instead of just running back?

Should he ask about the two who attacked his team members and what she planned to do about them?

Should he ask her for more information on Void, as Frostbite did mention that she'd broken into her office, so she might know more things about her.

He then remembered how angry Frostbite had been after someone told her about the injury her son had sustained earlier, so figured asking about the people who did that might not be a good call, seeing as there were still pillars of ice in the parking lot.

And as for Void, she might only know a small bit about her, as while she was a villain on the East Coast, did not mean she knew anymore about her than he did.

So he asked, "Did you ask Chase to stop and rest because you knew his advanced aging could be a risk?"

She sucked in a breath, then sighed, "I don't suppose Chase told you about my mother and the family I come from, did he?"

"He mentioned you came from a long line of people with powers and that your mother is very proud of it." he said.

"That was a very kind way to put it." She said, "Considering what my mother said to him, I'm surprised he held back."

"He called her a frigid old bitch." He told her honestly.

Frostbite laughed, "That's a little better, but Chase is still being too kind. But anyways, I grew up being surrounded by people with all sorts of powers and hearing possible ways they can backfire or give you issues later in life. Speedsters aging faster was one of those potential issues I heard about. Granted the way I heard it, they said that's what they said would happen if you 'bred with the wrong kind', but I'd seen a few Speedsters with gray hairs way before they should have them despite 'good breeding'. And, well, you know Chase. He's one of the good ones. Looking back now, I don't know if anything I did helped, but I at least wanted to try to help him avoid it, just in case."

"You did more than most." He said, feeling guilt thicken his throat, "I had him run all the time..."

"You were a kid when Chase was active, and to be honest, I only knew about the possibilities because I met so many people with various powers over the years and saw what it did to them over time. And honestly, I didn't like spending time among that group, so I doubt you would either. Especially considering your family legacy is a machine and not powers. I guess those kids were awful to you when you did have to spend time near them?" Frostbite asked.

Robert nodded, "Got to fight a couple of them when they turned to crime after using up their family fortunes though, so I got payback eventually."

Frostbite laughed, "I did too. It's always satisfying if they were absolute assholes before they became criminals because then you get to take out all the rage you've had against them for years and watch them get lead away in handcuffs!"

Robert smiled and nodded in agreement.

"But anyway, in regards to Chase, I doubt that, even if he knew this would happen, that he would've stopped running for you. For everyone else? Sure. But not you. He'd give you hell for it, but he'd do it. He cares about you more than you probably know. He was worried sick when he didn't hear from you after MechaMan became active again."

"Yeah. I was... not in a good place." Robert managed.

"Well, I'm glad you two are close again. He wasn't the same after you two lost contact. I'm glad I was able to see him smile like he used to when I'd ask about you back when you were little." Frostbite told him.

Robert didn't know what to say to that, thankfully the Uber arrived just in time. After confirming it was the right car, Frostbite thanked him again for looking after Water Boy, looked up at the building, smiled and then left.

He sighed and decided to head back in to make sure Water Boy was was finishing up with those mugs so he could drag him into the car, drop him off at home and then head home himself.

He walked back inside, struggling to recall if he had any leftover pizza in the fridge to eat or if he should just grab something else on the way home after dropping off Water Boy.

After all, he had a lot of work to do tonight; Flambae's niece was going to a birthday party tomorrow, so he asked for a last minute day off as his sister couldn't take her due to her covering an emergency shift at the hospital tonight that Robert and Blazer allowed. So he decided that having Invisigal, Golem and Prism staying behind to train tomorrow would be best. (But if there were more interviews or what have you, he'd call on them and made sure they knew that before they left) The others would be on call as usual and he still needed to review all the footage and information in regards to Void and her brother. He was going to do it yesterday, but Royd called him and they ended up working on the suit that night instead.

He made it all the way to the break room when he heard Water Boy apologizing over and over again. Which wouldn't be too strange if he wasn't probably the only other person in the building as far as he knew. He leaned against the wall by the entrance to the break room and heard another voice.

"Mate, stop saying sorry. You didn't know I'd come back. 'N look, I caught it before it hit the ground, so no worries." Void said.

"Still, I nearly broke-" Water Boy began.

"No!" Void said firmly, "No more apologies! You didn't do anythin' wrong! For fuck's sake, you were washin' MY mugs tha' I forgot about since this mornin'! 'N you didn't HAVE to, you were just doin' it ta be noice! So I don't wanna hear another 'I'm sorry' just for gettin' spooked when I showed up outta nowhere! Or for anything else that isn't your fault, do you understand me? Not. One."

"I-Uh..." Water Boy tried, "I'm- um, well, uh..."

Wow. Water Boy being unable to apologize. Robert never thought he'd see the day... but he'd been hopeful that something like this would happen.

"Are you okay?" Void asked, her tone holding a small warning still, but the concern was still genuine.

"Y-yeah." He confirmed, "F-fine."

"... Are you actually foine?" She challenged, "Because no offense here, mate, I've only known you for a day, but you've already proven yourself ta be the koind of person who says that they're foine when they're not because they don't wanna trouble othahs or some shit. So I need you to be honest with me here."

Ouch, Void was going for the jugular.

"I-I'm okay! Not hurt, I-I was just... startled." He admitted.

"Okay then. Sorry 'bout tha'." Void said, "Didn't know anyone would be here... figured everyone was done for the noight. Definitely was not expecting you to clean up my mess..." He then heard a soft laugh, "You do know yer not a janitor anymore, roight?"

"... we said we'd clean them at lunch time." He replied softly, "But with everything that happened... " there was a pause before he heard him ask, "A-are you okay? After all of that?"

"... I wanna say I'm foine. But if I do that, I'd be a hypocrite." Void huffed, "Honestly? Now that it's over, I'm feelin' pissed off 'n guilty."

"But you didn't-" Water Boy began.

"I know, I know." She sighed, "You and everyone else here keep tellin' me it's not my fault. 'N I know I didn't hurt you or stab myself in the leg... but I still feel bad. Knowin' doesn't make the feelin' stop. It just adds irritation 'n frustration to the mix..."

"... I'm sorry-."

"Mate." Void warned, "What did I just say about apologizin' for shit-"

"I'm sorry I can't help you feel any better about it." Water Boy finished, then tacked on a, "B-but if you ever need to talk about it, I-I'm here. I-I mean, I've been against them too now, s-so I think I can get it a least a little bit. About this time I mean."

"... Not tonoight... But do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

"... a little." He admitted, "B-but we don't have to-"

"Just say it." She told him.

"A-are you-?" He tried.

"Just because I'm not ready to talk, doesn't mean you should have to hold back." She said, "So go on. Tell me."

"... I just... I f-feel like I just g-got in the way today." He revealed, "Y-you blocked the s-shots and k-kept me out of d-danger for the most part, it was when I-I tried my idea that we b-both got hurt... It's not very- it's not what a real hero would do, now is it?"

"Mate, I wasn't all that much help either. All I was doin' was blockin' the hits. I wasn't doin' much damage." She pointed out, "'N I didn't know how much they'd changed over toime. You had outdated information 'n we didn't have much ta work with against Slurry, power wise."

"But you smashed Sapphire's face pretty bad. And you said you and your brother beat them before..." Water Boy recalled.

"We beat individual team members." She clarified, "We were two teenagers goin' up against five adults with training 'n way more experience back then. Best we could do is take out a couple of them before runnin' away."

"But you helped take Diamondback down, right?" Water Boy asked.

"Yeah, but we were the distractions, Mate." She told him calmly, a chill running down Robert's spine as she explained that, "Our job was to keep him focused on us while othahs got what they needed ta lock him up. 'N sure, we got a lot of his shit, but that's because our powers allowed us ta access places othahs couldn't, but our main job was to keep all eyes on us. We didn't have ta win, we just had ta buy toime 'n help make things more difficult for him 'n his team movin' forward."

Robert felt sick, he didn't know who approached Void and Voltaic about this, but they had to have some gall to approach two kids to ask them to put their lives on the line so they could buy them time to do what they were probably paid to do. And he had a feeling that he and the team ever met them and found out they were responsible for sending two kids out to be human meat targets while they fucked around, well, it would get messy.

And then there was the horrifying question of WHY they agreed to do it despite the risks and stuck with it until Diamondback was taken down.

Shit, he was going to have to look up some videos when he got home. He was sure that someone would've done at least one on Void and Voltaic's work on the case at the time. As while he wasn't focusing too much on the news when he was MechaMan if it didn't relate to his area and what he might have to deal with, even he remembered the arrest being talked about for a good while. So hopefully he could find at least one video about the siblings.

"So if I didn't say anything... if I hadn't been there... would that had been the plan?" Water Boy asked, "Just wait for back up?"

"... honestly? Dunno." she replied quietly, "Not sure if anyone would come ta help me if you weren't there..."

"...I would." Water Boy replied firmly, "I would come to help you if you needed it."

Robert heard a small laugh and then heard Void say, "Ya know, it's funny. Tha' sounds loike somethin' a real hero would do."

"What?"

"You heard me." She said, "A real hero steps up ta help others. You helped me foight those two, even though you really had no reason to. Yeah, we were bein' shot at, but we both know who the actual target was. I'm pretty sure Sapphire would've ignored you entirely if you had stood next ta the sheild 'n not behind it. The only reason Slurry probably took tha' swing at you is because she saw you were helpin' me. If you had just walked away 'n left me behind, both would've most likely just left you alone."

"But I couldn't just leave you-"

"You're continuing ta make my point here, Mate." Void said, a bit of laughter in her voice now.

"I-I'm not... I couldn't..." Water Boy tried as Void chuckled, he then seemed to give up on disagreeing with her and sighed, "I-I still don't feel much like one. A-a hero I mean..."

"Okay then, let's work on that." Void offered, "Give me yer phone."

"Uh, okay?" He said.

Robert heard something being fumbled, most likely his phone, before he heard tapping, smiling easily. It was kind of funny how easily she shot down his attempts to make himself smaller and somehow turned her past into a pep talk. Now, maybe this was out of guilt or because the two of them genuinely had a friendship blossoming and she wanted to support him. Either way, he was looking forward to seeing what happened to anyone who talked shit about Water Boy with Void around.

Not that the rest of their team would allow that to happen without serious consequences, but some of them (Flambae) never bothered to stop him from doing that to himself. It was nice to have someone else around besides him who would do that.

"There." she said, "Now whenever you don't feel loike a hero, we can talk about it."

Robert then heard Water Boy quietly thanking her and then the sound of running water before Void said, "I'll clean these up, you should head home."

"... No." Water Boy said, his voice firm.

"No?" Void repeated, confused.

"I-It'll go faster with both of us. I'll wash, you dry."

"I can wa-" There was a pause and then a "Ah, roight, sorry. Forgot 'bout tha'. I'll dry."

It was quiet for another minute before Water Boy started to laugh.

"What?" Void asked.

"You were going to let me dry the mugs." He laughed, "I've never been dry for a single day in my entire life!"

"Wait seriously? Nevah?" Void asked, "When did ya get your powers?"

"I w-was born with them. What about you?" He managed through laughter.

"The family curse activates once the girl starts puberty." she told him.

"W-why do so many powers come out during puberty?" He asked, "I heard a lot of people get them then too."

"I think God loikes the drama." Void deadpanned, making him laugh even harder.

It didn't take them long to clean up the mugs, Void apparently put her things back through the shadows in the room before Water Boy mentioned needing to head to the bus stop to head home.

"I'll wait with ya." she said, "Safety in numbers 'n all."

"I'll be fi-" He stopped, thankfully remembering Void's reactions the last couple of times he said the word 'fine', then said, "V-Void, I'll be okay, t-they have no reason to c-come after me. They d-do have a reason t-to come after y-you."

"Still don't loike the idea of leavin' you alone at the bus stop while they're still around." Void told him, "Don't trust them as far as I could throw them."

"No need for the bus stop." Robert said, finally revealing himself in the doorway, "I'm driving."

"Okay then." Void said, giving them both a wave, "Hoo roo, see ya tomorrow." Before walking backwards back further into the room and turning off the lights.

Robert turned the lights back on after a few seconds and she was gone. He looked to Water Boy, "Come on, your Mom and Grandma are waiting."

Water Boy nodded, the two quickly making their way through the building and into his car. Water Boy had hesitated before entering the car, due to the cloth seats. Robert had to assure him that he could not give less of a shit about wet car seats, that he was not going to be mad at him about it, and that he just wanted to get him home safe so to get into the car. Then the young man finally got into the car and gave him the address.

"... H-how much did you hear?" He asked once the car started and they left the parking lot, "Between V-Void and I?"

Hmm, what to say?

...Fuck it, he was just going to tell the truth.

"All of it." He said plainly.

"O-Oh." Water Boy replied, sinking in his seat a little.

"Anything you want to talk to me about?" he asked.

"... N-not now." He said, "I-I'm still processing everything."

"Fair enough." Robert agreed, then said, "I'm glad you and Void are getting along."

He could see Water Boy look down at his hands out of the corner of his eye, "She's nice. M-much nicer to me t-than most of the others w-were at first." He told him, then said, in a softer voice, "Even though I m-messed up, she doesn't call me a f-fuck up or i-insult me..."

Fucking Flambae... Robert bit back a sigh and instead said, "Speaking of Flambae, he actually suggested I have you two work together for calls moving forward while you two get more experience. And I think I agree, you two seemed to work well together today. I'll want to with talk with Punch Up first since he trained you for most of the day today, but I'd like to hear what you think."

Water boy was quiet for a moment before saying. "S-she can p-probably handle plenty of c-calls on her own, b-but I liked working with her today. She and I talked about how our powers worked and came up with ideas for new moves while we worked with Punch Up... N-not all of them w-worked, but it w-was nice to h-have someone to t-try them with."

Robert nodded as he stopped outside the address Water Boy gave him, "I'll keep that in mind."

"T-thanks for the ride." Water Boy said before fumbling with the seatbelt.

"Water Boy." He called.

"Y-yes Boss?" He asked, clearly nervous with his hand on the door handle.

"...Good work today. I'll see you tomorrow." He said simply.

"Oh, uh, thanks you too?" he replied before quickly escaping from the car and scrambling up the steps to the house.

Robert chuckled before grabbing his phone and tapping his contacts. He smiled as he scrolled through a decent sized list of names before he finally got to Punch Up and sent a text, "Let me know if you are available for a call tonight, want to get your opinions on Water Boy and Void's training today."

He received a call back from the Irishman before he pulled out of the driveway, "I'm at the burger joint across the street from the Sardine, why don't you come on down and I'll give you a full report. I doubt you have anything at home ta eat anyways, so you might as well join me."

Robert smiled, "Sounds good. I could go for a burger." He said as he pulled out of the driveway with wave to a nervous Water Boy.

Yeah, Burger and report first, the rest of his to-do list could wait until he got home.

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic 8

Sonar stared that the two who had been hurt in the hallway, remembering very little before he'd heard the call asking for everyone to get back as soon as they could, most likely because he'd transformed and the sound of Bob Bob's voice pitched with panic and concern as he asked everyone who could to come back had him switching back.

Now normally, the beast side of him had to be satisfied before the man side was allowed back control. And while Victor had gotten better at changing into the beast form on command, the changing back part was still a work in progress. But both sides could choose to switch if needed. And the beast form wasn't stupid, it understood when he needed to be smart or smooth and would let him back in control when needed.

The memory thing was also still a work in progress. He always shared his stuff with the beast, and the beast got better with showing him the cool shit they did when they were in control... and showing him some of the things he ate to explain any stomach issues later.

But at the sound of their boss's voice, the beast side stepped aside, as if knowing that they needed brains right then. To get back, to figure out what was needed, to understand how to help best. And if it was decided that force was needed, it would gladly handle it fro there.

And boy, did Sonar need force when he saw his injured teammates in that hall. He thrashed that weird slime thing along with Golem and Phenomaman! ...Although, he wished he could get the taste of it out of his mouth...

Who knew something so colorful could taste like dirt, shit and chemicals? And not even the fun chemicals! It tasted like what he imagined the floor of a really dirty gas station bathroom probably tasted like.

Hopefully the food they were ordering would help with that... And if not, well, he knew where a den of mice were not too far from the office. He doubted anyone would have a problem with it if he snuck out for a snack. It wasn't like he was sneaking out for a drug deal.

Prism was taking everyone's order and entering it in on her phone while Flambae told them all about how he stopped a douche with ice powers from ruining these two sweet old ladies' wedding, the others commenting and asking questions.

Sonar ignored him and instead looked at the large crystal that had apparently been in Void's leg. Water Boy had gotten a trash can and had him hold it while he'd barfed up some water on it to help clean it up a bit once they got in the room, but there was still some drying blood in some places despite Water Boy's thoughtfulness.

But he didn't say a word about it.

This crystal would be a reminder for him. A reminder to look out for his friends. A reminder of how much it sucked seeing people he cared about hurt like that.

... And, okay, this would look SICK on his night stand.

"You okay, Batguy?" Malevola asked him, "You've been starin' at that crystal for a whoile... Don't tell me that slime thing got you hoigh..."

He rolled his eyes, "I wish. It would make the aftertaste worth it." He told her.

"Then what's up?" she asked.

"Just... Thinking." He said before looking at her, "You know when I said 'I will eat someone if Water Boy is dead' that I meant that, right?"

She stared at him, then stroked his head before scratching the spot that he could never reach, "He's safe, Victor. Void is too."

"But they were hurt." He said softly, "Water Boy is a good kid... seeing him like that felt wrong..."

"Yeah, it did." She agreed, then poked at the crystal, "Where are you thinkin' of puttin' this?"

"Night stand." He said simply, "Maybe I'll get one of those color changing lights to put under it."

"Sick." She smiled.

"Yeah." He then looked at her, "Speaking of crystals, what are you gonna spend yours on?"

She tapped at her chin, "Ya know, I've been thinkin' about it, 'n I can't really decide. I know I want to spend it on somethin' I can enjoy for more than a noight. But I don't know what yet."

"... I think I might buy some stocks and that light and-" Cocaine... He shook his head. No. He was not going to use the money his friends nearly died from on that shit. "I dunno. Maybe some Twinks and feeder mice from that fancy pet shop? The ones who they give organic food to and shit?” He looked at the crystal and saw Prism on the other side, remembering the bones she had made from light. That had been cool. Maybe he could get something similar? "Hey Mal, what do you think would be cooler, a 3D printer or a projector to watch movies on or do karaoke with?"

"They both sound cool, but I think I'd prefer the projector." Mal said, looking a bit excited at the idea, "You wanna check out Best Bits on the way home?"

"Yeah! I want to see all the options available for the coolest set up!" He declared, feeling a little excited about the idea the more he thought about it.

"You think we can do that music saber thing we see at arcades at home?" Mal asked.

"That would be AWESOME!" He exclaimed, "Especially if we can rig it to work with your sword!"

"What are you two talking about?" Robert asked.

"What we're thinking of buying with the gem money." He told him, then asked, "What would you buy, Bob Bob?"

He seemed to consider it for a second before saying, "Stuff for Beef probably."

"Seriously?" Mal asked, "You don't even have a bed 'n you'd spend it all on Beef?"

He shrugged, "Can you blame me?"

Mal and Sonar exchanged a look before they both shook their heads. They honestly couldn't. As much as they'd want him to buy a bed, new clothes, more food, a couch, a table, etc. They both also had a soft spot for their boss's chunky dog.

Beef was just such a good boy.

"I think I'll use mine to buy some new knives made by artisans." Coupe said, "As well as some tickets to some shows."

"I'll probably use mine to pimp out a costume for a show." Prism said, "I have money, but I can always use more bling."

“I have been looking at this fancy stove top pressure cooker.” Flambae told them, “And my rice cooker just died. And maybe some fun cookie cutters so my niece has more variety when she comes over to bake.”

“Y-You bake with your niece?” Water Boy asked.

"You have a problem with that?" He challenged.

"N-No! I bake with m-my grandma a lot. I w-was going to a-ask if you w-wanted to swap recipes..."

Flambae considered this before he said, "You have any cinnamon bun recipes?"

"M-my grandma has a c-cinnamon bun cookie r-recipe we like." He offered.

"... Bring it a copy tomorrow, I'll bring you a recipe for Roht to try."

"S-sounds good!" Water Boy replied cheerfully before pulling his phone out of his pocket and began typing, most likely to his grandma.

"Ya know, a bakin' day could be fun team activity." Void suggested.

"I have never baked anything before, would that be an issue to having this 'baking day'?" Phenomaman asked.

"Nah, it would just be for fun, and you can learn a new recipe or two." Void said.

"... I only know how to make fairy bread." Malevola said shamefully.

"Fairy bread?" Punch Up asked, "Ain't that just buttered toast with sprinkles?"

"Yeah." Sonar's best friend confirmed, a bit embarrassed.

"I used ta eat that all the toime as a kid." Void said wistfully, "It's so gooooodddd..."

"I know, roight?" The demon gushed, delighted that someone else understood the supposed deliciousness of fairy bread.

"How is that good? Flambae asked, "It sounds like you just are being lazy."

"It's salty, it's sweet and it's gotta nice crunch to it!" Void argued.

"The perfect snack for a kid to make while waiting for your parents to get home..." Mal said, clearly nostalgic.

"My brothah 'n I would use the buttah ta make faces with the sprinkles!" Void laughed.

"I did that too!" Mal said excitedly, "then I'd make monster noises when I ate them!"

"Same! My brothah 'n I would take turns bein' the screamin' victims!" Void said as she bounced in her seat.

Sonar couldn't help but smile as the group commented about their childhood snack choices and how they ate them... until he felt a chill in the air.

That was weird. It wasn't too hot today, so there was no reason for the sudden chill. It wasn't the air conditioner either, he would've heard that.

So why was that chill continuing? And why was it getting even colder?

He shivered and the fur on his face puffed up, trying to trap heat in as he rubbed at his shoulders. This wasn't good. Too much cold and he'd start going into torpor and would be useless for a while.

"You okay, Sonar?" Invisigal asked, "Your face got... fluffier?"

"Does anyone else feel cold all of a sudden?" He asked as the temperature continued to drop and his ears picked up the sound of sharp heels clicking down the tiled hallway floors.

But it was just one person, and the sound was different from when Blazer would walk around... So who was it?

"Now that you mention it..." Robert said, rubbing his own arms.

Heels were higher than most people around here that he'd heard before, so they didn't work here.

"Did someone fuck around with the thermostat?" Prism asked, her arms wrapped around her chest.

Click Clack Click Clack Click Clack, the sounds were getting closer.

"I don't feel anything." Golem said, but then muttered a 'Huh?' as he noticed the windows of the room had fogged up.

Did Prism already order? Was that their food?

"I do think I do feel a change in the temperature, but it doesn't really effect me the same way it effects humans." Phenomaman said thoughtfully as he stared at the windows with Golem as frost began to form in the corners, "But it is strange how cold it is in here while it seems like a sunny and warm day outside..."

No, she hadn't taken half of their orders yet, so it couldn't be their food... Now that he thought about it, the people at the front desk often had delivery people drop off orders with them and then you had to go to them to pick it up.

Invisigal began huffing hot air into her palms as Malevola quickly walked closer to Sonar, who was starting to shiver and wrapped her arms around him, trying to use her own natural warmth to help him from having health issues. He started making his own sounds, trying to see if he could tell how far the heels were from the door, barely registering the concern on his teammates faces as he did so.

"Is it getting colder?" Coupe commented as she rubbed at one of her arms, starting to shiver.

Dammit, Sonar was having trouble now, it was so cold and so hard to focus on the sound...

"Yeah..." Punch Up replied with a scowl as he hugged himself, "And I don't like it."

Sonar not only agreed with Punch Up, but he'd even kick it up a notch. He hated this. He opened his mouth to speak, but could only manage a yawn.

Prism quickly moved closer to Flambae, whose hands lit up with flames without her having to ask.

The heat from Malevola and Flambae helped for a second, allowing him to focus for a second before the cold snuffed it out again.

"S-s-so c-c-c-old..." Water Boy managed through chattering teeth as he curled into a ball.

Water Boy was basically reading out his thoughts at this point as he started looking towards the ceiling, the beast in him telling him to find a place high and safe. The human in him understood that heat rose and scientifically, it was the smart option.

But that would require him having energy and he could feel and hear his heart beat slowing in preparation for torpor and knew he was doomed to exhaustion.

"H-hang on, I have a h-heater at my place, if someone can turn off the loight-" Void began, only for her to notice that she could see her own breath, "what the fuck?"

Wait, no, go back to getting that heater...

"T-this isn't n-normal." Robert said, his voice a razor's edge despite the chattering teeth and how tired Sonar was starting to feel. This wasn't good, this kinda thing was supposed to be more gradual. If he survived this, he was going to be fucked up for a while.

"Uh, guys." Golem's voice called, the low tone full of concern, "I think Water Boy is starting to freeze."

"Okay, that's it." Flambae growled as flames engulfed his upper half, "Everyone stay close until we figure out what the fuck is going on."

No one needed to be told twice, although Sonar and Water Boy were given the spots closest to Flambae. And once Sonar was closer to Water Boy, and was able to open his eyes normally again, he saw what looked like snow or ice on his body in patches.

Ah, right his body created water constantly, so the sudden cold was bad for him too.

"S-should I s-still grab the h-heater?" Void asked.

"I-I'm f-f-f-f, I'm o-okay." Water Boy insisted and Sonar could swear he could see the leftover blood freezing on his crystal out of the corner of his blurring vision.

Oh hell no, he and Water Boy were not freezing to death today.

"N-no. You're not." He found himself saying, "A-and n-neither am I." He then looked to Void, "G-get t-the h-heater. S-someone is c-coming a-and I n-need to t-think."

She nodded before slipping under the table, and after a couple of slow blinks and the sounds of someone, probably Prism, asking 'The fuck you mean 'someone is coming'? You can't just say creepy shit like that and then get all quiet!' Void then crawled out from under the table with a portable heater and some blankets, making someone, (probably Prism) jump and yelp, before she went to the nearest outlet and plugged it in, tapping a few buttons as she cussed and bitched about how cold it was as she tossed two of the blankets to Malevola to help him and draped the other two over Water Boy's shivering body, the young man looking as tired and cold as he felt as he gripped the edges of the blankets, stammering out apologies for the fact that her offerings were going to be soaked when this was over.

As if they didn't have other, bigger, more pressing problems...

But still, it was Water Boy, it wouldn't be him if he didn't apologize for some minor inconvenience he caused without meaning to... Sonar suddenly felt a bit guilty for giving him shit about it before. The kid literally could not help it and he and the others complained about him helping them when they were short handed. He wasn't getting paid for risking his life at the time, just cleaning up the messes they left at the office.

And considering some things he heard, Water Boy probably hadn't been paid enough for that shit.

Thankfully the combined efforts of the heater, blankets, Flambae's growing flames and Malevola's body heat helped Victor stay awake in the freezing room as he struggled to stare at the door, the sound of the heels clicking so loud, he was pretty sure they could all hear them now.

Then he heard three loud knocks, "I'm coming in." A woman's voice called before the door opened to a calm looking woman with steely blue eyes behind red glasses, red hair, and who was wearing an icy blue business suit, the cold radiating off of her like heat radiated from Flambae.

Well well well, the cold temperature came from a ice cold baddie. God, if it wasn't so cold, he would definitely be enjoying the view right now...

The woman's eyes narrowed at Void, clearly irritated, before she seemed to start to scan the room, only to stop as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped, "H-Hermie?" she murmured.

Hermie? Who the fuck-... Oh shit! that was Water Boy's real name! How did she-?

"H-h-hi M-M-Mom." Water boy managed with a smile of chattering teeth.

"MOM/MUM?!" Everyone but Water Boy, Robert, Sonar and Phenomaman shouted, stunned. Sonar winced from the sound, but he wouldn't lie, the abrupt change in volume did help him wake up a bit more... along with the news that Water Boy had a mom and she was HOT! What the fuck? Water Boy looked like a pathetic wet noodle (not that any of them would let anyone else call him that. They were his team, only they could bust his balls about looking like a pathetic wet noodle) but his Mom was this Ice Queen with fiery red hair and eyes that could make a man...

Ya know, maybe he should stop that line of thought before this became more awkward than it already was...

Or at least before it became awkward for him, he doubted the awkwardness would end here for poor Water Boy...

"Really?" Phenomaman asked, clearly delighted by this information as he turned to Water Boy, "This explains so much about your dedication to help others! Your mother does the same thing as a Branch Leader!" He then looked at the woman who Water Boy just called 'Mom', "However, based on the pictures in your office, Frostbite, I thought your child was thirteen or fourteen at oldest. I had no idea it was Water Boy, although I suppose he does look very similar. Minus the metal on his teeth, painful looking face lumps and death metal band t-shirt."

Water Boy's body might be shaking from cold, but he still managed to have a small blush on his cheeks from the description their friend from outer space just gave before saying, "And you both use water decks when we play Magic the Gathering! You both use similar strategies too! I don't know how I didn't see it sooner! My apologies to both of you!"

"I-It's o-okay." Water Boy managed, looking like he might ask Void to take him somewhere far away through the shadows under the tab- wait a fucking second, why didn't they ask her to let him and Water Boy stay there while the rest of them handled Water Boy's Mom?

"Oh, Hermie, I am so sorry, let me..." Frostbite said before the room warmed up again.

Sonar and Water Boy both breathed sighs of relief as the room was quickly going back to the temperature it had been before. Sure Sonar was still tired, but hopefully he'd wake up as the two of them soon shedded the blankets and the others quickly address to the heater and Flambae turned off the flames.

"Sorry about that," Frostbite said as she took a seat at the far side of the table, "My powers tend to flair up when I'm not trying to when I'm angry." She then looked to Void, "And when I find out that one of the criminals who broke into my office years ago is not only a new member of the company, but that two heroes from my office came down here and attacked her and another hero from the same team..."

"And it turned out the other hero turned out to be your son." Robert supplied.

"... I'm sorry, what was that?" Frostbite said, her smile cold and her eyes dark as the room's temperature dropped again.

"M-MOM!" Water Boy cried, making her snap out of whatever was happening in her head and she made a face and held up her hands, taking some deep breaths before saying, "Sorry, sorry..." The temperature rose again, "I did NOT know my son was also attacked..."

The group looked at one another, silently agreeing that telling her Water Boy's shoulder was smashed right here and right now was not a good idea if they didn't want to freeze again...

Victor mentally rubbed his palms with an evil grin as he considered sending them an anonymous email blackmailing them for their crimes against their boss's son later... then ask Bob Bob to give Frostbite the news later after their demands were fulfilled.

He'd ask Blonde Blazer, but she's too much of a goody goody to understand the beauty of revenge. TV shows always had it that the people who got their well deserved revenge on bastards always end up losing no matter what because they just create new people who want revenge on the person who got revenge and it just never ends... but then again, Water Boy and Void got hurt because those heroes wanted revenge on Void for something...

Hmm, this was quite the conundrum. Get revenge and continue the cycle, or let it go by just emailing Frostbite about what happened to her child later with a request for her to send them her reaction and how the so-called heroes were punished...

He'd talk to the team later about it in the team chat they had without Robert.... which reminded him, he needed to tell Prism to add Void to that chat.

"Anyways, Void, I apologize for my heroes actions against you. Even if you didn't work for SDN, you were a child back when you were a criminal and you don't deserve to be attacked for wanting to help others with your abilities." She said, her eyes going dark, "I will make sure that once the investigation is done and their actions are confirmed, that they are properly punished for their actions and that they pay for damages and medical bills."

"'N what about what they did ta Water Boy?" Void asked, "Them attackin' me? Predictable, seeing as they were in the area. Them attackin' him? Unacceptable."

Frostbite smiled a smile that sent chills up Sonar's spine without the temperature dropping, "On that, we agree. I'll have them apologize to him once they're patched up. Blonde Blazer is getting the footage and is taking into account the amount of gems fired at you two for the report." She then looked around the room with a knowing smile, "Although I have a feeling that the amount left in the hall is far less than how much she actually fired."

The ones with jewels in their pockets tried to cover their bulging pockets without looking too obvious (Sonar had it easy as he was sitting down and that he had lots of pockets) as she then looked at the crystal Void had given Sonar, "I would like to take a picture of that with a ruler, and see if there is any blood to confirm further injuries."

Void looked to Sonar, who nodded. Frostbite then tapped on her phone, "One of our people is on their way with the equipment to measure, count and test the evidence. If you could also let them count the amount of gems in your pockets, that will be helpful."

The group grumbled as they took places around the table and began pulling blue crystals out of their pockets.

"I'm surprised you didn't take any, Void." She said lightly, "I recall Quartz Cutter mentioning that he used to misfire on purpose so you and your brother could eat and have a roof over your heads."

"... I was gonna take whatevah wasn't used for repairs 'n new equipment 'n medical shit 'n spend it on snacks 'n booze ta apologize once it got dark." she admitted bashfully.

"How sweet." she chuckled, the sound making Sonar's fur puff up for an entirely different reason.

Easy there, Victor, that is your friend's mother and a Branch Leader. You and your team already are on HR's shit list, you do not need someone from a different branch and corporate HR coming down on you for wanting to...

Actually, don't finish that thought. Think of gross things... Uh, naked old people? The cold? The taste of that slime?

Yeah, he should just focus on getting the gems out of his pocket for counting and just try not to think too hard or stare too much...

At least for now.

Later he was gonna tease Water Boy about his mom being a MILF.

"Now then..." She said, getting up from her seat and carefully picking at her clothes to avoid wrinkles before walking over to Robert, her hand out, "Thank you for looking out for my son, Mechaman. It's good to know he's in experienced hands." Robert took her hand and shook, "It's nice to know where Water Boy get his heroic nature from."

Water Boy blushed from the praise and opened his mouth, most likely to downplay it, only for Sonar to stop him with a hand on his shoulder.

Frostbite gave a warm smile that Sonar would now swear up and down he'd seen on Water Boy's face before she then said, "Thank you. And thank you for personally coming to make sure he and Void were okay. I do hope you are that dedicated to your own well being as well, you were in a coma for six months right before you started here and I did hear about the fight you all had against the Red Ring.."

HOLY SHIT, SHE KNEW?! HOW THE FUCK DID SHE KNOW BOB BOB WAS MECHAMAN?!

AND WAIT, DID SHE JUST SAY ROBERT HAD BEEN IN A COMA FOR SIX MONTHS BEFORE HE STARTED HERE!?!

Sonar felt his brain immediately shake off any remaining drowsiness as he recalled Punch Up telling them on Robert's first day that Mechaman had beaten up Flambae the night before. He also remembered Visi punching him in the face for telling her off.

And FUCK, the bar fight! He might have been in beast form for a good portion of it, but the Beast was happy to share what was going on and kept track of who was fighting/doing what.

Bob Bob smashed a mirror in someone's face. Ripped someone's ear off with his bare hands. Tanked a punch to the dick from Punch Up. Bit off a finger tip. AND helped break someone's arms! AGAINST PEOPLE WITH POWERS AND MECHANICAL ENHANCEMENTS!!

This guy did all this after six months of being in a coma?!

Okay, Sonar was calling horseshit on Robert not having powers, motherfucker had to have some sort of powers to do that after being down for so long!

Either that or just was using the suit as a nerf this whole time! Holy shit...

"Worry not," Phenomaman assured Frostbite, "We are here to assist in reminding Robert to take care of himself."

"And step in when he doesn't!" Invisigal chimed in.

She nodded, then shook Phenomaman's hand as well, "It's good to see you Katon-Ur. I do hope we can have a rematch before I have to return to the East Coast."

He beamed, "I look forward to it!" He said excitedly, "Water Boy has been a phenomenal opponent, so I plan to come out the victor this time!"

She smiled widely, "I look forward to it." she laughed.

She walked over to Water Boy and gave him a kiss on the cheek, the lucky...

"I'll be staying with you and your grandmother for a few days to clear this up. Can you let her know I'll be coming?"

"Yeah, can do, Mom." He said softly, then said, "We were about to order tacos, can you join us?"

Frostbite gave him a sad smile, "I'm afraid Blonde Blazer and I will be dealing with this all day, but thank you for the invitation."

"Oh, o-okay." He said, clearly trying to hide the disappointment.

"However, as heroes from my branch caused your team trouble, perhaps I can treat you all to dinner as an apology before I leave?" she offered.

Water Boy brightened and Robert said, "Thank you, we look forward to it."

The group all nodded eagerly, except for Void, who looked a bit nervous at the invitation.

Frostbite gave Water Boy a big hug that he happily returned, his mother not caring as the water from his body soaked into her suit. When they let go they smiled at each other before she made her way out the door and left with a wave.

It was quiet for about a minute before Water Boy turned to them and, without a hint of a stutter, growled "If anyone makes inappropriate comments about my Mom, I WILL punch them. I have been dealing with people saying gross things about my Mom my whole life and I am NOT letting it slide."

Sonar was a little intimidated, very proud and very quick to decide to not comment about his mom being a MILF in front of him. When he was at home with Mal was probably fine though.

"That's fair." Golem conceded with a nod.

"Why would anyone say 'gross' things about your mother?" Phenomaman asked, genuinely confused. "She is a well respected, well liked and powerful hero who does a phenomenal job. There is nothing 'gross' about her." He said firmly.

Robert called him over and whispered into his ear, the alien's eyes widening before he scowled, "That is terrible." he said plainly. Their boss nodded.

"We won't talk like that about yer mother," Punch Up assured him, "But we are probably gonna ask questions, Lad, considering her powers and yours."

Water Boy sucked in a breath and nodded, "That's fair." He agreed.

"So, is yer Grandma her Mum or yer Dad's?" Mal asked.

"Dad's. Dad didn't have powers. He was a meteorologist who never saw snow before he met my Mom. When he did, it was snow she'd made with her powers and he told her that her snow was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen and asked if they could be friends and it started from there." Water Boy explained.

"Awww, that's adorable..." Malevola said dreamily, "I want somethin' loike that..."

Flambae nodded, "That does sound kinda nice..."

Void quietly asked Coupe for directions to the nearest bathroom, which she gave in an an equally quiet tone before the newest member of the team slipped to the door without anyone saying a word about it, as most of the team's attention was either on Water Boy answering questions about his family or Prism asking anyone who hadn't already put in their orders about what they wanted. Sonar caught Coupe's eye and she gave him a small nod.

He quietly moved his chair closer to the door, with only Coupe and Mal noticing as he listened.

"Uh, Excuse me." Void's voice called, getting a curious hum in reply.

"I, uh...I'm really sorry about breaking inta your office all those years ago." Void said sincerely, "I know now that it was wrong, but at the toime, we just needed to be sure..."

"Sure of what?" Frostbite asked.

"... Doiamondback had just been sentenced, Sapphire 'n Slurry were still angry 'n just taken jobs with SDN. We were concerned, I mean, they were separated from him, but we weren't sure... I mean, we didn't know much about SDN or how it worked or anything, so we were worried-"

"That someone worse would manipulate and use them like Diamondback did." Frostbite finished, understanding. "Diamondback had a good reputation once. People trusted him and believed in him and you didn't know anything about SND or me or anything else and worried that history would repeat itself with them."

"Yeah... It was still wrong though to think of you loike that." Void said softly, "So, I'm sorry... Although, I am curious about how you knew it was us."

"The sticky note you used to cover my son's baby picture." She said, "Your fingerprints are in the system."

"Wait, seriously?" She asked.

"Yes. Although I am curious why you covered it up." Frostbite said, then said in a voice that made him immediately picture her pouting, "It was such a cute baby picture too..."

"Saw the picture of him as a 13/14 year old on your desk and figured he wouldn't want the strangers who broke in ta see his bare baby butt picture." She explained, "Nevah knew I'd end up workin' with him some day, so, glad I did it."

"I suppose it does make things less awkward for you two." Frostbite conceded.

"And I'm also sorry I got your son mixed up in my old problems." Void said, "I nevah meant to put him in any danger."

"... Apology accepted. As for my son getting mixed up in your old problems, that wasn't your fault. And you know that." Frostbite stated.

"... Still feel bad." She said simply, "He's a noice guy 'n doesn't blame me at all either."

Frostbite chuckled, "My Hermie has always been a very kind child." Then there was a pause before she asked, "Is there something else?"

"... I have two more things ta say, one thing will have ta be said outsoide, the otheah one here 'n now, okay?"

"... Okay?" Frostbite said, confused.

"You can't foire Sapphire 'n Slurry." Void said softly, "If you foire them, they will become villains so fast 'n guess who they'll target first?"

"You?"

"... Okay, I mean you're roight, but who else?" she asked.

There was a pause, then a gasp before Void spoke again, "Doesn't mattah if they foind out that he's your son or not, Water Boy WILL become their target. Either because he was with me today or because he's your kid 'n it'll hurt you. Because, let's be honest, they can't beat you."

Sonar slipped his hands under the table and clenched them, furious. She was right, it didn't matter which way they sliced it, either to get payback against their old boss or to get back at one of the reasons they were fired, Water Boy would become a target.

Fuck! He'd need to chat with the others about this later...

"... I can't guarantee that they can keep their jobs." Frostbite told her, "But maybe I can figure something else out while the investigation is ongoing... What is the other thing?"

"... Fair warning; it'll piss you off." Void warned.

"... Maybe you should type it in my phone and I'll read it in the parking lot." Frostbite suggested.

"Yeah, good call." Void said.

Sonar then heard some tapping before Frostbite thanked her for telling her the truth before he heard the click of heels again going in one direction and the sound of Void's steps coming back and watched as she opened the door.

Void stared at him, surprised to see him on the other side of the room than he was before after he'd been so cold and tired.

"Hey Void." He replied putting his arms behind his head, "Get turned around on the way to the bathroom?"

"Yeah, I really need that tour once we have lunch..." Void replied, "You moind goin' with me so I don't end up somewhere I don't know?"

He considered it, then nodded, "Sure." He said before getting up and joining her in the doorway, making sure to make eye contact with Malevola before leaving.

Once the door was closed and they'd walked a few feet away, Void asked, "You heard everything?"

"Yup."

"You gonna tell the othahs what I just did?" she asked.

"Nah, but I am wondering what was so bad about the baby picture that you needed to cover it." He said with a smile.

"I wouldn't know, covered it." She said plainly, then looked at him. "Anyways, can I ask an unrelated question?"

"Sure." He replied, curious.

"When the FUCK were you all going to tell me our boss is MECHAMAN?" she blurted.

Sonar stared, soaking in the question before he started to laugh.

Oh shit, he totally forgot that she didn't know that Bob Bob was Mechaman! In all the chaos, it had completely slipped his mind!

Not that he had any plans to tell her, if anything, they probably would've put bets on how long it would take before she figured it out or someone told her.

But guess that wasn't going to happen now.

Oh well.

"Stop laughing, this is serious! It's Mechaman! He's a third generation hero 'n he's got so much experience actually helpin' people 'n I just..." she clenched her fists as she kept her eyes on the ground, "I wasn't even out in the field 'n I got someone hurt on my first day. I'd be on thin oice with a normal dispatcher for that, roight? What's an experienced hero loike Mechaman gonna feel about havin' someone loike me on his team?"

Sonar stared at her, all laughter gone now. "Void, we don't listen to him because he's Mechaman. We listen to him because he's Robert."

She looked at him, an unspoken request for him to elaborate hanging in the air between them.

So Sonar decided to oblige; "When he joined, he didn't just let us do whatever we wanted like the other dispatchers did, he took charge and told us what we needed to do to improve. He argued with his boss when she wanted to cut one of us because we weren't doing as well as the other teams. He pushed us to look at our failings and grow from them. He encourages us to work together and support each other instead of pointing fingers at each other when things go wrong..." He listed off his fingers, then stopped to look at the young woman with him, "He's not going to give up on you because someone else made a mistake. He's not going to give up on you when you do make a mistake. Robert gives a shit about us. That's why we trust him. We wouldn't tolerate him if he was the kind of guy who'd cut you for getting ambushed."

"... Thanks Sonar." she said with a smile.

Then they both felt the ground rumble, the temperature drop and a shout of "SAAASSSSHHHAAA!!!!!!"

The two looked at each other, impish smiles growing on their faces as Sonar snickered, "Someone's in troubbbleeeeee."

"Yeah, Sapphire's gonna get ittt." Void giggled.

The two cackled deviously as they made their way down the hall, Sonar feeling a lot better than he had when they entered the meeting room.

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic 7

If you asked Colm, he was a pretty even tempered fella. Had been since he was a wee lad.

After all, why get mad when you can get even? A good punch to the right place and the world can become a brighter place again. So what if usually that right place is between a man's legs?

But this time, a couple of well aimed punches to the dick wouldn't cut it. And it wasn't just because the two in front of him didn't have dicks (as far as he knew. But they certainly had some balls to start shite at their office.)

No. These two fucks hurt members of his team. Their two rookies he had literally JUST trained. The ones he left alone for not even a half hour to clean up the mess and the broken equipment at their own request, because they were good kids. And these weren't little injuries a mother could kiss away, oh no.

Water Boy's left shoulder was SHATTERED. He had no doubt that parts of the bone were splinters at this point and the Lad probably had some serious internal bleeding. And Void's right leg had a chunk of crystal sticking out of it, covered in blood and torn skin. Lass had her own puddle forming under her leg, and unlike Water Boy's, hers wasn't water.

They both were clearly in a lot of pain, their faces pale and their voices soft as they spoke to one another. And as their elder and the one training them, it was only right that he even the score.

Although it looks like they at least got the woman with the gun pretty good. Her nose and what was probably at least part of her cheek bones were broken, a tooth was missing, her lip was cut pretty bad and her face was covered in blood.

Not bad. Not good enough for him personally, but once his anger subsided, he'd be proud of them... then teach them how to fuck a face up properly. He supposed the one they had the most trouble with was the hissing crystal that seemed to be glaring at him.

He could see why. One of it's limbs, the one Visi didn't spray with the foam, became more fluid-like before shifting into a scimitar and hardening again. The liquid could slip around and through defenses, the crystal could cut and crush. He hadn't considered this kind of opponent earlier, as constructs he'd faced or met often had only one state of matter; solid or liquid. One that would swap between would be a challenge, as moves or attacks that would great on one, would be quite useless on the other.

Well, he knew what to teach them next...

The creature's body completely solidified again and seemed to be smart enough to understand that he was sizing it up. It pointed the scimitar limb at him, weird green eye balls narrowing in a challenge.

He almost smiled.

Aw, how cute.

It thought it could hurt him.

He would teach this walking rhinestone what happened when it fucked with his friends.

He walked towards the crystalline creature, fists clenched. The creature rose their blade over their head, but Colm wasn't going to give them the chance.

He struck. Fast, hard, and with a satisfying crack of crystal. The creature backed away, looking down at the crack he put into where it's crotch would be. Clearly stunned.

... What? Just because he couldn't see a dick, didn't mean there wasn't one to destroy somewhere in there. Not every bastard left their junk out to be destroyed like that Toxic fella.

"YOU LITTLE FUCKING LEPRECHAUN!" The girl shouted as she aimed her gun at him as he gave her a quick side eye. Her weapon looked heavy, but she didn't look like a brawler. (not that he hit women anyways.) She cocked the gun and he nearly cracked a smile again.

Pftt, oh please. Like her little pea shooter could even tickle him.

He had no intention stopping his onslaught on the monster when he already cracked it. So he ignored her and struck it again and again, letting his anger at the treatment of the two younger teammates fuel each swing. Seeing more cracks form and feeling what felt like raindrops on his back and side as he worked.

He was making good progress, the crystal was tough, but he was tougher, stronger and wouldn't stop until the thing in front of him was in pieces. He was about to give it another punch, when he heard a yell and felt a decent thump on his shoulder. He stopped and turned. The woman had hit him with her gun. Her heavy, crystal gun.

Oh.

Was that how she broke Water Boy's shoulder?

Oh.

He understood now.

She hurt Water Boy. The monster hurt Void. Good to know who did what.

He silently debated his not hitting women rule as he grabbed the gun.

Nah, not worth it. He ripped the gun from Water Boy's attacker and flung it down the hall, the item skidding on the floor until it stopped. in front of his injured teammates. The woman stared at her tossed weapon, stunned.

"T-that should've cut up your hand..." she croaked out.

He glanced down at his hand, huh, there were a few crystals embedded in his hand. He arched an eyebrow, well, that was a good way to make sure you didn't lose your weapon and punish anyone who tried to take it and use it against you.

Too bad that didn't mean shite when it came to him. He held out the hand that had the offending sparkly rocks, then bent his arm to flex and watched as they popped out of his skin with ease, flying over his shoulder and clattering to the ground behind him as he felt as the wounds close without issue.

"Oh shit." The woman muttered, backing away slowly.

He then looked back to the monster, who had also retreated a few steps back.

Ha. Cute. They picked a fight and now they want to back away the moment they start losing? He took a step towards it, silently telling it that he had no intentions of letting it go so easily.

The crystal monster stepped back further and further arms up in surrender... until it bumped into Robert, Prism and Flambae and turned in surprised... also Flambae had a bouquet in his hands for some reason...

Okay. The flowers were not expected, but they were lovely. He'd have to remember to ask about them later.

"Where are Water Boy and Void?" Robert asked, clearly concerned.

He said nothing, just pointed towards the twenty somethings sitting against the wall, only to see the crystal that had been stuck in Void's leg now free and bloody and the spot where it had been was dark but slowly leaking blood. Based on the drops of blood going around Water Boy, she had moved to check out his shoulder, her eyes completely black as she muttered something he couldn't catch.

Colm found himself focusing on the young man, who was paler, his breath ragged, his body shaking. He could see him trying to stammer something out only for him to see Void scowl and cut him off with a stern word.

Fuck. He was going to go into shock at this rate.

"Holy shit." Robert said, horrified, before calling Malevola with their location and running over there with Prism. Leaving Flambae behind to stare at the younger ones with Colm and Invisigal.

"Visi." He said, holding out the bouquet, "Hold my flowers."

Invisigal questioned nothing, simply taking the flowers as fire began to grow in their friend's palms. They heard the sound of Mal's portal opening up before they heard her gasp and begin to run to them.

"Which one are you dealing with?" He asked him. He arched an eyebrow as if to say 'do you really have to ask?' pointed to his chosen cracked victim and his fiery pal nodded in understanding.

"Well, bitch." He growled as he faced the gun woman, unarmed and looking terrified, "Looks like you played a game of fuck around and now it's about time you found out."

"We're here!" Coupe called, Colm turned to look to see the rest of their team coming over, including Phenomaman and his friend from earlier, what was her name? Book Brain? Something like that...

"Where are they?" she asked.

The three heroes standing over the intruders all motioned to where their teammates lay. Prism helping Void move to the opposite side again so Mal could have access to his injuries, the three women talking in quiet tones. Robert asking them questions he could barely hear before dashing back over to them, "BrainBook, sorry to ask, but can you help us out here? Void was trying to help put the bone pieces in the right spot, but she can't tell which bone is which."

"Of course. Although I am curious how she is doing that." she said as they began dashing back to the wounded.

"Her exact words were 'the inside of the human body is darker than most people think.'" Robert informed them.

Huh, smart Lass. He never thought about that, he'd have to ask her more about that later.

"I'll need to keep that in mind." Coupe commented before the rest of the team looked at the two intruders.

"So, who wants a piece of who?" Invisigal asked, clearly content with holding the flowers and a fire extinguisher and just watching the show.

"I'm not sharin'." Punch Up finally growled.

"The construct is female." Golem informed him, "You don't hit women."

He clenched his fists harder, wanting to say he didn't give a flying fuck. That he'd been doing fine so far, and a thousand other come backs, but couldn't get the words out. His anger still boiling his belly.

Coupe grabbed his shoulders and looked him right in the eyes, "Colm, we'll handle these two. Go sit with them. Void in particular has spent the most time with you and Water Boy, so she'll probably feel better if you're there with her."

He sucked in a breath, then let it out.

Shite.

She was right. He knew she was right. She knew he knew she was right. All of them knew she was right and that he knew she was right.

"Foine." He relented, bitter, then took a step forward and stopped when he heard a strange sound and felt a slight resistance. "Huh?" he lifted his foot, revealing small blue jewels all over the ground along with what looked like part of the training dummy that been destroyed earlier next to his foot. He picked one of the sparkling stones up, inspecting it in the light.

He had no idea what kind of jewel it was, but he recalled Void telling them that she sold the gems shot at her. He put it in his pocket along with a mental note to think about what to spend the money on later before carefully making his way towards their rookies. A keen eye noticing the gems seemed to have had a path made through them and there were A LOT of them all over the floor.

He pictured several scenarios as he made his way to them, none of them helping him calm down as he walked. After seeing that they were getting more plentiful along along with seeing the rest of the training dummy as he moved forward, he decided he should stop looking at the floor and instead look at the people.

He was surprised to Prism making a small partial skeletal model out of light that a pale and tired looking Void was blindly groping at as BrainBook confirmed that the bone she was touching was right above the scapula, which was the big bone triangle.

Void nodded, her blackened eyes narrowing in focus as she made sure to touch a small joint on the bone.

"How's he doing?" He asked their resident demon.

"I'm o-okay!" Water Boy called, clearly trying to sound more energetic than he actually felt, grimacing, pale and giving him a thumbs up with his good hand.

"No, he's not. His shoulder is bad, Void is gettin' the bone splinters in the rioght places before I start." Malevola told him before looking at the youngest woman in the group, "Although if you let me heal your leg, it moight be easier to do that."

"I'm foine." the other Australian replied stubbornly as her leg leaked more blood onto the floor.

"Lass. Let Mal help ya with your leg." Colm said, his voice firm, but gentle, "You can't put the bones back right if yer dizzy from blood loss."

"... But..." She said softly, clutching the model made of light that Prism had made, "But he got hurt because of me, so he should get helped first..."

"A-and she d-doesn't like people t-touching her." Water Boy reminded them.

Ah shite. That was right, she doesn't like people touching her. In all the craziness, he'd forgotten all about that.

"It's not-! I can put up with it for medical stuff!" Void blurted, her white pupils and brown irises returning as she shot Water Boy an angry look and flung her arms out in front of her, "The point is you shouldn't have gotten hurt at all! Their problem is with me, not you! They had no roight ta even attack you, let alone hurt you!"

"Actually-," Prism interrupted, but Colm stepped in instead, "They shouldn't have hurt either of ya. It's no one's fault but theirs that you two got hurt. So no more blamin' yourselves for any part of this. Just let us help and then we can all get lunch, you two can pick whatever you want." He pulled the jewel from his pocket, "After all, we have the cash for it."

The two rookies exchanged looks, Water Boy's pleading while Void's was a mix of guilt and frustration. They seemed to have a silent conversation for a moment before they broke eye contact and looked up at the others with them.

"... Can we get t-tacos?" Water Boy asked softly.

Colm patted his good arm, "Sure Lad, whatever you want." He then looked to Void, "Lass?"

She frowned, clearly uncomfortable, before she held up her leg, darkness fading into an angry looking red hole where the crystal had been, "Tacos sound good..." she relented as blood began to trickle from the wound.

Mal quickly went to work on Void's leg, murmuring apologies as the younger Australian twitched with discomfort, although if it was because someone was touching her or that it hurt or both, Colm honestly couldn't tell. But he hated how uncomfortable and upset she was in that moment.

Thankfully the wound wasn't too deep, it was still a nasty wound, but not too deep, so it didn't take Mal too long to fix her up. And once she was done, she allowed Void to help with the bone splinters again. With Prism and BrainBook assisting her, the lass seemed to have finished placing the right bits of bone in the right places in no time. Then Mal began working her magic on Water Boy.

"We're sorry we didn't do better." Water Boy apologized, unable to make eye contact as Mal healed him.

"Yeah, my brothah 'n I fought them before 'n won, we should've been bettah." Void said, her head hung in shame as she curled inwards on herself.

"You two were tired, ambushed 'n you did a pretty good job on the shooter." Colm said, "The construct is a hard one." He looked to Void, "You said you beat them before?"

"My brothah usually took out Slurry, he could control 'n generate electricity." Void explained, "So one good shock while she's in liquid form did the trick. Heat 'n cold also worked pretty well in that form too. Boiled 'n freezed her a couple of toimes. Not much you can do when she's in crystal form except maybe fling 'er away, but that wouldn't have solved anything..."

And they had no way of boiling or freezing this 'Slurry', but there were outlets in the wall and Water Boy could make a path or at least make the ground slippery enough to get a possible electrocution to happen.

But the shooter bashed his shoulder in and Void most likely got stabbed by the construct after seeing him get hurt, leaving them both in a bad spot until he guessed Invisigal stepped in with the extinguisher.

And then he stepped in.

"So earlier, when you mentioned the giant crystals being shot at ya-" He began, tilting his head to the bloody one Void had somehow gotten out of her leg.

"Slurry was nevah able ta make crystals form in the wounds before." She said with a shake of her head, "The ones I mentioned before came from a hero called 'Quartz Cuttah'. He was a part of the same group as those two, along with another hero called 'Stone Samurai'."

"Do we need ta worry about them coming in ta finish what those two idiots started?" Colm asked.

"Nah, they cut off all contact th' moment they found out Sapphire 'n Slurry believed Doiamondback was innocent." Void assured him, "They're actually good people. If they showed up here, it would be to help us, not them."

He nodded, pleased to hear that there would be no more assholes breaking into their office. Their team had already gone through losing their office and dealing with so many captured and injured teammates this year, he wasn't really looking to go through another round of that...

Or at least wanted a year between these kinds of incidents.

"Team." Robert called, catching their groups attention as they made their way to them, "We're being asked to go to a meeting room to wait for further instructions."

"So we're leavin' two crazy bitches alone to start shit again?' Prism asked.

"No, Equilibrium and Brickhouse will be guarding them while the Z-team will sit in a meeting room and wait." Robert said.

"So Galen has been informed of the situation?" BrainBook asked.

"Yes, he knows. Along with everyone else on the dispatch floor, so Phenomaman will be off duty for a bit while we wait."

"Sorry..." Void said again.

"Why are you apologizing?" Robert asked, "Those two would not know you were here if Prism didn't tell one of them that you were."

Prism told them? He looked up at her and she scowled at their boss, hissing out 'Snitch' before she looked to the two victims, and sighed. "The blue bitch was at Bone Zone's radio show to back him up about us being shit." She explained, "I threw back how you kicked her ass all the time and she flipped out. Never thought she'd come here armed and with a friend." She then removed her shades to look them both in the eyes as she said, "I never intended for any of this to happen. I am really sorry you two got hurt. I would've kept my mouth shut if I knew that bitch was crazy."

"T-to be fair..." Water Boy stammered, "Void d-did something similar while we were b-being shot at after S-Sapphire said she heard about Void being here from Prism..."

Colm looked at the youngest woman there and she just shrugged and said, "Yeah, Sapphire is one of those koinds of people who can rage bait you just by existin'. So, no worries, I get it."

"So, what exactly did you say to her?" Flambae asked, his flowers back in his hands.

"I asked her what it was loike ta meet someone who got more hits with her voice than Sapphire did with her gun." Void told him plainly before motioning to the jewels on the floor, to emphasized her point about this 'Sapphire' missing shots.

The Z-team (excluding Void, Water Boy, Phenomaman and Robert) quickly all bent down and scooped up some of the gems and stuffed them in their pockets, clearly all realizing that there was some perfectly good jewels around for the taking. Colm admittedly grabbed some more as well.

"... Did she answer the question?" Phenomaman asked, deciding to ignore their team's actions.

"N-nope." Water Boy replied, "S-she shot at us more."

"... Those two are from the other side of the country, correct?" BrainBook asked suddenly, making them all turn around to look at her.

"Yeah." Void confirmed.

"And when did you sign the paperwork for your employment contract?" she asked.

"Yesterday." She told her.

"Then it's possible they already knew you were here." She told them, "The SDC employee files are all accessible by a decent amount of people in the company, anyone could've saw the information about your recent employment and told them about it."

Colm felt his blood go cold. Some fuck who worked for this company gave those two psychos Void's information knowing they would try to kill her?

Well then that bastard better pray he never found out who they were or he'd show them why he was called 'Punch Up'.

Robert sighed at the information, then looked to Void, "Anyone else we should know about so this doesn't happen again?"

"Nope." she said, "Just those two 'n Doiamondback."

"Bullshit." Invisigal said plainly, "There is no way there are only three people who want you dead."

"Only three-?!" Void repeated, shocked, "You do realize most people don't have even one person wantin' 'um dead, roight? Three is a lot!"

"Having one is usually dangerous enough on it's own." Coupe confirmed.

Sonar picked up the crystal from Void's leg off the ground, "Why is this one covered in blood?"

"That was in my leg." Void told him before looking at him, somewhat confused as she asked "...Do you ...want it?"

"I can have it?" He asked, pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah...? Just clean off the blood 'n it's all yours, Mate." she told him.

Sonar let out a happy squeak and admired the crystal as Robert got them all moving again with a "Let's leave before we have to do clean up outside of taking the jewels."

Colm felt himself relax a little as they walked to a meeting room, the threats were being handled, his rookies were fine and he had pockets full of gems he could sell for cash later.

Then a howl came from Water Boy's stomach, making the whole team look at him, surprised.

"S-Sorry." He managed, embarrassed, "W-We never got to have lunch..."

Void's stomach roared and she quickly covered it with her hands and a bashful expression, confirming his statement.

"... I could eat." Flambae said.

"Yeah, lunch sounds good." Golem agreed.

"I say we order in." Colm said, grabbing a couple more gems off the ground and holding them up to the rest of the team, "Tacos anyone?"

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic 6

Herman held two cracked legs and a badly damaged torso of the training dummy while Void lifted up the broken arms and dented head.

"Thanks again for this, mate." She said, "I appreciate the help... 'n the fact that I won't be alone when I tell the big boss lady I broke something on my first day..."

"B-Blonde Blazer is nice. I'm s-sure she'll understand you d-didn't mean to break it." Herman assured her.

She didn't look all that convinced, but simply nodded and did her best to keep his pace. Ugh, he didn't help at all. Maybe he should talk about something else?

"S-So, uh, did you see the V-Venom movies?" He asked her.

"Uh, no, I wanted to, I just... well, I tend ta comment a lot on movies I watch." She said, looking a bit bashful, "So I can't really watch movies in theaters 'n the movies weren't in any of the streamin' platforms I have so..."

"I-I didn't either." He said, "S-see them, I mean." He saw her arch an eyebrow, confused, so he elaborated by saying, "I w-was wondering. if they were good. I-I don't really like super violent movies, but I-I can handle some violence if the movie is cool or f-funny."

"Ah," she said, understanding, "Sorry, I couldn't tell ya. I did see all three Deadpool movies, did you see those?"

"I watched the f-first two so far." He said, "The second one wasn't as good as the first to me."

"Yeah, I feel loike the first one was funnier than the second one." She agreed.

"Y-yeah, the montages are my favorite parts." He told her.

"Same! The part with the Zamboni had me laughin' so hard I fell off the couch!" she gushed. Herman laughed and soon the two were having a cheerful conversation about their favorite superhero movies.

It was really nice. Just talking about things he liked. He really didn't get to talk like this with his other teammates or co-workers. It was like having a friend. A real friend.

They were talking about the best Spiderman movies in each series of them when one of the legs slipped from his grasp and he stopped to pick it up.

Void held out one of the arms to him, smiling, "Here, mate, ya need a hand?" she joked.

He laughed and was about to come back with an admittedly lame reply when suddenly he heard a 'bang' farther up the hall and watched as something blue and shiny flew between them, leaving a hole in the fake hand Void had been holding out to him.

"VOID!" A furious female voice screamed, "YOU LITTLE BITCH!"

"Oh fuck." She murmured before a large angular mass of darkness shot up in front of them and he felt a hand pushing him towards the ground, "Stay down, she ain't shootin' bullets."

"W-who is that?" He asked, dropping the torso and legs on the ground as Void did the same with the head and hands. As he heard more bangs and the sound of lots of things hitting the shield Void had made, he felt his hands shake. But he wasn't sure if it was from fear or anticipation.

"Well, I know her as Sapphoire Shootah, a hero from the East Coast." Void said, almost light heartedly, as if they were now talking about the weather, "But I think her real name is Sasha?"

"W-why is she shooting at you?" He asked.

"I was classified as a supervillain on the East Coast years ago." She reminded him, "'N ta be fair I did help get her mentor, Diamondback, locked up in Blackout prison."

"Blackout?!" He squeaked, "The worst prison in the world for people with super powers?! You got her mentor there?!"

"Technically it was his own actions that got him there, but I did my part ta get him locked up." She admitted, "So she koinda hates me 'n my brotha."

"So that's why she's trying to shoot you?" He cried, horrified.

"Honestly, since it's her, she's actually probably tryin' ta kill me." She then looked at him, looking guilty, "Sorry you got caught up in my old bullshit. I swear I had no idea she was on this soide of the country. Let alone that she'd know I was here."

"H-how did she know you were here?" he asked.

"I CAN HEAR YOU TWO, ASSHOLES!" Sapphire Shooter shouted, "AND YOU CAN THANK YOUR LITTLE CRIMINAL PAL, PRISM FOR THAT!"

Herman saw something in Void's eyes, the white pupils growing a bit as this flash of impishness seemed to take over as she then shouted, "AH, YOU MET PRISM HUH? TELL ME, WHAT WAS IT LOIKE TA MEET SOMEONE WHO HAS GOTTEN MORE HITS WITH HER VOICE THAN YOU EVAH DID WITH THA' UGLY MAGIC BRACELET OF YOURS?!"

"Void!" He hissed as the bangs transformed into what sounded like a constant onslaught of gems being fired at their shield as Sapphire Shooter shouted back, "FUCK YOU!"

She stiffened at the sound of her alias, the impishness fading quickly as she looked at him, apologetic, "Sorry, Sorry!" she whispered holding up her hands, "Force of habit."

"W-what do you mean 'force of habit'?!" he blurted as quietly as he could.

"I mean, I fought her for years." She said sheepishly, "It's hard ta turn off. Especially when she pulls stupid shit loike this in a dispatch centah."

"Well, how are we supposed to beat her?" he asked.

"Honestly, it's not hard ta beat her from this distance." She said, "But I'm worried that she didn't come alone."

"W-well, then shouldn't we beat her before her b-buddy shows up?" He pointed out.

She stared at him for a moment, processing before saying, "Yeah, that's actually really smart- we should do that." She then made the shield bigger before saying, "Okay, my turn to have a good idea," a small platform formed near the bottom of the shield and motioned him close, her hand by her mouth as if to tell him a secret.

"Okay, so here is the plan, we push this." She whispered, motioning to the black mass protecting them, "towards her 'n hop on the platform so we can avoid gettin' shot. Hopefully we can hit her with this 'n grab 'er before she can do anymore damage."

"W-Won't she move out of the way before we can r-reach her?" He posed quietly, "That will leave us o-open for attack."

She smiled as she picked up one of the fallen arms, "Not if she's too busy focused on somethin' else." She chuckled impishly, then started fiddling with the fingers, "You moind holdin' this up when I'm done? I'd do it, but you're taller."

"Uh, s-sure?" He agreed, holding out his hands as she handed him the arm, the hand now sporting a middle finger straight up with the rest of the fingers forming a fist.

"Really?" Herman asked, giving her a flat look.

"What? It'll get her attention." Void pointed out before murmuring, "'N you can't say she doesn't deserve it..."

He sighed. She was right, he couldn't say it.

"YOU TWO GONNA COME OUT ANYTIME SOON?" Sapphire Shooter shouted.

Herman looked at Void, silently asking if that was his cue to hold up the arm. Her grin was his silent affirmative.

So he slowly raised it up as Void called out, "JUST GOIVE US OOOONNNNEEE-" Once it went over the mass, she then laughed out a, "NEVERMOIND, GO FUCK YOURSELF!"

The hand was immediately destroyed by gems as Void hissed out a 'now!' and they both pushed the shield towards the shooter and hopped on the platform. Herman braced himself as their shield moved faster than he thought it would and he heard a 'SHIT!'

He watched a woman in a sparkly blue spandex outfit and short blonde hair leap out of the way and land on the floor hard just as Void made the barrier vanish before they crashed into the wall.

He watched as Sapphire Shooter raised her gun at Void, only for him to throw the only thing in his hand, the remaining bit of the arm, at her face. Earning him a confused, but angry squeak.

But before he could say anything, a shadowy hand yanked him closer to Void, as a loud slicing sound came to a quick thud behind him.

He turned to see a iridescent slime creature with big green eyes coming out of the ceiling vent, one limb attached to a crystal scythe that was embedded into the ground where he was just a moment ago.

"Water Boy, meet Slurry. She was th' one I was worried about." Void said darkly as 'Slurry' yanked the scythe limb out of the floor and seemed to ready it again and Sapphire Shooter got back on her feet, gun aimed at them.

"Anything I should know about these two?" Water Boy asked as he put his goggles on, mentally locking in.

"Slurry will try ta drown you in her own goo 'n she'll also try ta immobilize ya by wrappin' around ya and then hardenin', so keep your distance when she's liquid." she said, blocking another strike from Slurry, "'N when up close, Sapphire will use her gun loike a hammer 'n it will break bones, but it takes a bit for her to hit you with it since it's really heavy."

"Got it." He said, before shooting a jet of water at Slurry, making her fall awkwardly from the ceiling, Void blocked two more shots before wrapping shadows around the gun and starting to yank it away from Sapphire.

He watched as Slurry struggled to stand on the wet floor and shot another jet of water at her, her liquid body seeming to need to separate the water from whatever she was made from for a moment. Herman risked a glance back towards Void and Sapphire. Sapphire was stubbornly fighting against the shadows wrapping further around her gun, but once the gun was arms length from her, the shadows then suddenly flung the heavy gun into Sapphire's face, hitting it with a sickening crack and a pained cry.

"Nice one!" He called.

"Ta! Also, she's startin' ta crystalize, be careful!" She told him.

He turned and saw one of Slurry's limbs starting to harden into a crystaline shape with a sharp point, he yelped and jumped back, just barely missing the slash of the new sword limb and nearly crashing into Void's back.

"U-uh, any more advice you can give about Slurry?" he asked as Slurry picked up their sword limb from the ground, green eyes locked on him.

"Honestly, I always had a hard toime with her." she admitted as Sapphire sucked in pained breaths and clutched her face with both hands, "My brotha could just shock her while she was in liquid form 'n she'd be down. I've managed ta shove her into a hot oven or lock 'er in a freezah before, but..."

"Y-yeah, we don't have either right now." Herman agreed, then asked, "Wait, w-what do you mean by 'shocked'?"

"My brothah had control over 'n could generate electricity." Void explained, "One good shock 'n Slurry became a puddle of goo for a whoile."

Herman looked around, spotting an outlet on a nearby wall, "I think I have an idea, c-cover me!"

"Ah, okay!" she said, clearly confused but quickly put up odd shapes of darkness to stop Slurry from cutting off his head. He grabbed the remainder of the arm from near a and saw the metal bit sticking out.

Perfect!

He then turned to run towards the outlet, only for him to feel someone grab the back of his leg and pull him downwards and then feel what felt like a sledgehammer smash his left shoulder.

He screamed in pain, dropping what remained of the dummy arm and falling to his knees, his brain taking a second scrambling through agony to realize his shoulder was definitely broken in what was probably several places. And that Sapphire Shooter had apparently just used her gun as a hammer like Void had warned him, but she had done it quick, unlike what Void had said.

"WATER B- AHHH!" He heard and saw Slurry stabbing Void in the right leg, crystals forming in the wound as she moved her scythe limb away as his fellow hero fell to the ground, "FUCKING FUCK, YOU COULDN' DO THA' BEFORE!" she cried, gripping her leg tight, revealing crystals coming up from under her skin covered in blood.

"V-Void!" He cried, as he heard a laugh behind him.

"Did you really think we wouldn't change after all this time?" Sapphire asked as she passed Herman to reach Void and grabbed at her hair.

"Ya came in. Guns blazin'. In a superhero. Dispatch. Centah." Void managed through gritted teeth as Sapphire placed her gun at the shorter woman's temple while still holding her hair, "Yer brain. Is still. Nothin'. But. A paperweight." she spat.

"They'll thank us when this is over." Slurry said for the first time as she fully became crystal, her voice sounding cold and pointed.

Water Boy looked down at his shoes, he couldn't untie them in time and slide in to save his teammate. Nor could he really throw a punch and do much damage with Slurry all sharp and pointy like that.

He couldn't do anything...

Void was going to die and he couldn't do anything.

...No, he was... he wasn't going to just let her die. He struggled to stand, as he could only use one arm and the water on the floor and in his boots was making it hard to get up.

"Aw, look Slurry." Sapphire snickered, "The spit up guy is trying to save her."

"Looks like I'll have to end him too." Slurry said, starting to walk over to him, an arm going liquid to become a sort of flail.

Her-No, Water Boy looked at Void, who stared right at him and nodded in agreement.

They were not going to go down easy.

Although he had no idea how he was supposed to stop Slurry from-wait, was that fire extinguisher behind Sapphire and Void floating?

It then smacked into Sapphire Shooter's back, sending her falling to the ground with a cry before Invisigal became visible again. Then she ran over to Slurry and shot some of it's contents at the slime, the parts the foam touched seeming make the liquid harden seemingly against the slime's will and the construct letting out a agonizing shriek as it pulled the hardened part close to her chest.

Punch Up ran up from the same hallway Invisigal did, his eyes growing dark at the sight of their injuries before Herman slowly moved towards Void, who seemed to pick up on the fact that they should step back from the fight now that back up is here and made a sort of crutch for herself to help her move farther away. He passed Punch Up and Invisigal as they began to size up their opponents, gripping his aching arm. He then found himself stopping to turn to ask, "P-Punch Up, w-when they d-don't have dicks, where do I punch? F-for future reference..."

Punch Up cocked his fists like something out of a movie, "Just watch closely, Lad. You too, Lass. You'll see in just a second."

"T-thanks." He replied before joining Void farther down the hall they came from, sitting next to her as she used her powers to elevate her injured leg.

"Sorry." She managed as he slowly lowered himself to the floor, "I had no idea Sapphire could heave tha' thing so quickly now."

"S-sorry I couldn't stop S-Slurry before she s-stabbed you." He choked out, adrenaline starting to wane and pain beginning to put him in a choke hold, "S-so, we good?" He asked, holding out his good arm.

Void chuckled weakly as a shadowy hand took his and gave it a small shake, "Yeah, we're good... so what was that you asked Punch Up about? Somethin' about punchin' dicks?"

Herman felt a laugh bubble up despite the pain, "I-I'll tell you later. For now, l-let's just watch the show."

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic 5

Robert had some time between calls and took a bite of sandwich, "I wonder how Punch Up, Water Boy and Void are doing..." He wondered aloud.

"Probably fucking around." Chase mumbled as he picked up Beef to begin rubbing his belly.

"Ye of little faith." He said flatly patched into the training room camera and saw Water Boy and Void were panting on the floor in one of what was probably Water Boy's puddles, Punch Up handing them water bottles and looking proud as they took them with tired thanks.

"Okay, great work you two!" Punch Up said, "I think you both deserve a break."

"Yeah." Water Boy said after chugging some water, "I'm starving..."

"Same, but I need ta use the bathroom first." Void said, closing her water bottle before looking to Punch Up, "Where is the nearest bathroom?"

"Oh, shite. Sorry Lass." Punch Up said, "Keep forgettin' we were supposed ta give you a tour." He then thumbed towards the locker rooms, "There are bathrooms in there. We'll wait for ya out here until yer done and then we'll take you back ta the break room ta get your lunch. We'll do the tour after."

"Ta." She said, getting up and quickly making her way to the locker room.

"Well, how is your newest convict?" Chase asked.

"I see a destroyed training dummy, but that could've been any one of them." He replied, "And Water Boy and Void seem to be exhausted. So I guess Punch Up had them working hard."

"If it's the dummy with the lipstick mark, that piece of shit was supposed to be thrown out a while ago." Chase said, "I think Blazer ordered like, three more last week."

"It wasn't." A voice informed them before Invisigal appeared before them, "And Void broke it."

"Was she training?" He asked before taking another bite of his sandwich.

"She was showing off." Invisigal accused.

"Damn, Visi. New girl got you so mad, you be snitchin'." Prism said as she walked up with Flambae, who was holding a lovely bouquet, before telling Robert that, "She was showing us what she could do. And she felt bad about breaking it. Dunno why though, the head and limbs exploded off the moment it hit the wall. Probably was a piece of shit."

"You'd think she'd be grateful she didn't get the same treatment." Flambae chuckled. Invisigal flipped him off before turning to Robert, "I don't trust her."

"For slamming your ass against the fucking wall?" Chase commented as he held Beef to his chest like a cherished stuffed animal, "Sounds like a personal problem."

"How did you-?" She began, only to then look to Prism, "You didn't!"

"I didn't." she said with a smile, "Someone got the security footage and sent it out in office wide email."

"And you should be fucking grateful that it was only office wise." Chase confirmed, "Never thought I'd get to see you face the consequences of your fucking bullshit actions so quick in my life unless I was the one dishing them out."

"Fuck off." She snapped.

"Visi." Robert finally said, "It's her first day and though she did break something, she didn't mean to and she felt bad about it. How many things have you broken since you've gotten here?"

She scowled at him, "I haven't broken anything-"

"That is a load of fucking crap." Chase said plainly, "I know for a fucking fact there is a long ass log of all the stuff you've broken. And I know for another mother-fucking fact you broke all of those things on purpose and either thought it was funny or just didn't care."

"You can't PROVE-" She began.

"Bitch, we have CCTV, yes we can." Chase said plainly, "It's how we all know she got your ass."

Invisigal opened her mouth to argue, only for Robert to raise both his hands, stopping them both while chewing another bite of sandwich before swallowing and turning to look at her, "Visi, if you don't trust her, that's fine. Trust is something that takes time to build. But you still have to work with her."

Invisigal pouted, clearly not happy about the answer.

"I think she'll make a great fit." Flambae said, "I also think you should pair her up with wet fart boy for missions."

"And why would you suggest that?" He asked him.

"They seem to get along." He said, pointing to the screen, showing Water Boy with a mop while Void picked up the pieces from the destroyed training dummy while Punch Up said, "Alright, suit yourselves, I'll be in the break room."

Robert stared for a moment, considering before he said, "I'll wait for a report from Punch Up first."

"I'll get him." Invisigal volunteered before stomping off.

The four of them watched her go, concerned by her attitude.

"What bug flew up her ass?" Chase asked flatly.

"Yeah, I don't think I've seen her this mad outside of things dealing with you, Bobert." Flambae agreed.

"I think it's more she didn't like being humiliated and she doesn't like that Void seems like a good kid, despite her criminal past." Robert sighed, before looking at two members of his team, "Any idea when she'll start to lighten up on her?"

Prism and Flambae exchanged a look before Prism said, "Not for a while. You know Visi, she has serious trust issues."

"Great." He grumbled before picking up his sandwich again, "Prism, can you send me the videos you took of Void earlier, I want to know what she can do."

"Oh, I have more than what I took." She said as she began tapping on her phone, "I found videos of her time as a villain. Girl did some damage back then. Not to mention, guess who was a guest on that radio show today besides me?"

After a moment of silences she revealed, "It was a hero from the East Coast, don't remember her name, but it was gem related, anyways, Bitch was talking some real shit about our team, calling us weak and that we don't deserve our jobs, just prison. So I said, 'Bitch I literally have a video of you getting your ass beat by my new teammate, so who the fuck you callin' weak?'"

"You told her about Void?"

"I never said her name, but she flipped the fuck out when I said it, demandin' to know where they both were right then. Saying Void and some guy named Voltaic framed her mentor and that he shouldn't be in prison, they should." She revealed.

"She say her Mentor's name?"

"Diamondback." She told him.

Chase's face soured at the name, "That fucking sonuvabitch..."

"You work with him?" Robert asked.

"Fuck no." He spat, "He tried weaseling his way onto the old team, planning on coming over to argue his case to get a spot over Elliot. It was a little before... Well..."

His father's death. It was before Robert 'Robbie' Robertson Jr died.

"And then, at your father's fucking funeral, he comes in, uninvited, to start trying to recruit his own team from the people there all while basically saying 'I told you I would've been a better fit' the whole time." Chase ranted, furious, "He even asked why you of all people were there!" He said, motioning to Robert, "Like, why the fuck wouldn't you be there? He was your father! Going on about how only people with powers should be there and how you may be his son, but you didn't work with him and all this shit-"

Robert closed his eyes and tried to remember his father's funeral, but in all honesty, it was all a blur.

He could lie and say he remembered it, that he agreed that Diamondback was a douche and let Chase keep ranting, although he had a feeling it would just make Chase angrier if he told him he remembered the disrespect.

He could tell Chase he didn't remember it, but it wouldn't make Chase any less angry. Chase would understand if he couldn't remember it, but it didn't mean that the disrespect didn't happen.

Or he could just keep his mouth shut and let Chase rant. Let him get it all out. Also he could get more information about this Diamondback guy by just shutting up.

So, for once, he decided on keeping his mouth shut.

"And then he started talking about how a kid like you shouldn't get the suit. How it should go to someone responsible and some shit. I fucking lost it." Chase went on, "I dragged his ass all the way back to the East Coast and told him that if he ever came near you or the suit again, I'd make him regret it."

Well, now Robert wished he remembered Chase dragging this guy out.

"Yeah well, it sounded like Void and this Voltaic and couple of others did the work for you." Prism said, "Because he's in the worst place someone with powers can be." she held up her phone, revealing a wiki page.

Robert read the location he was incarcerated in and whistled before motioning for Chase to take a look.

The older man walked over, adjusted his glasses, read the text on the phone, then smiled broadly, "Couldn't have happened to a shitter person." he said, clearly pleased as he returned to his desk with Beef.

"Wait, you said Void and this Voltaic guy helped get Diamondback arrested. How?" Flambae asked.

"Apparently they went into his personal electronics, home, papers, and found some seriously shady stuff." Prism told them as she read the wiki, "Multiple agencies said the two helped gather materials to help convict him and turned the evidence in as well as helping a few victims escape."

Robert recalled Void mentioning before that she had contacts, they must of been the people she worked with to help take down Diamondback. But that still left him with a bad feeling and a couple. of questions, "This team member blamed Void and Voltaic for their mentor's arrest. Anything in there about if they were complicit in his crimes?"

"It says that his team was cleared, but that girl gave me a bad feeling. And she said she'd stop by and I was going to warn you about that once I got back but then I got distracted." Prism said, sounding a little guilty.

"And you didn't think to say that over comms?" He cried, abandoning his sandwich as he quickly cycled through the cameras around the building, until he saw a fluid like creature and someone with a sparkly gun enter the lobby.

"Shit!" He cried, pushing the button to talk to the team, "I want everyone not on calls back in the building ASAP."

"Problem?" Coupe replied over comms.

"Probably, I need all available hands on deck." He looked to Chase, who simply said, "I got the rest of your shit heads, go!"

He then started running towards the lobby, Prism and Flambae right behind him as he dialed his phone to Blazer's number and began explaining the situation and to put the building on lock down.

He was going to have a long talk with Prism when this shit was over.

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic Chapter four

Phenomaman watched as they tried his idea for Water Boy's newest moves: ice skating.

Or well, moving like an ice skater, specifically the speed skaters. Pom Pom had shown them to him ages ago and he found it to be really cool. The idea of Water Boy moving like they did with his water, well, he wasn't sure it would work since he didn't have ice powers, but he believed it was worth a shot. Plus Punch Up apparently used to 'roller skate' as a kid and he informed him that the two activities were similar, so he could teach him.

BrainBook had specifically wanted to join them because he told her and PomPom about it. Saying she was curious if it would work with his power set... But Pom Pom had whispered that they had all been worried about him after his break up with Blonde Blazer, but once he joined the Z-team, BrainBook had been incredibly worried.

"You are a bit naive sometimes, Phin." she said, calling him the nickname they gave him when he first joined the SDN, "And she worried that ex-criminals would take advantage of that."

"My new friends can be a bit mischievous, but they do care."

"Can you give me some examples?" Pom Pom asked.

"Well, Malevola patched up my wounds by taking them herself after a bit of broken weapon cut my hand open and then healed herself. Punch Up explains jokes to me and has been showing me some new moves. Water Boy is inexperienced, but eager to do good, I feel like he has great potential."

"I thought Water Boy was a janitor."

"Robert said he should have a chance to show the good he can do." Phenomaman said firmly, "He has been a hero for a long time and grew up around heroes as a child. I trust in his decisions."

"Even if it meant you stayed on the bench for a while?" She asked.

"He said he wanted me to get therapy and find things I could love about Earth besides Blonde Blazer." He said, then smiled at her, "I found about this activity called 'knitting'. It is quite relaxing and when I finish something, I can donate them to others in need!"

Pom Pom then asked him to show her pictures of some of the things he's worked on, only to be called out to help with security for a marathon being held to help raise funds for a charity. He promised to show her when she returned, only for BrainBook to ask him if they could see how training was going with Z-Team today.

He hoped his idea would work to help Water Boy be able to move more quickly and ease BrainBook's concern about his new team.

"O-okay, so how do I move again?" Water Boy asked after barfing up some water onto the long tub made of darkness Void had made (to avoid making a big mess) in water and hopping inside.

"Okay, watch me one more time, Lad." Punch Up said as Phenomaman lifted him up and Void put two wheels on each side of his shoes. Punch Up then slowly, but smoothly, skated on the ground, "Remember, have your feet go out to the side as you move." He said, "It will feel awkward, but once you get used to it, you should be fine."

"Y-yeah." He said. He began copying the movements, carefully, but was having a hard time moving as gracefully as Punch Up was and nearly fell face first only for a shadowy hand to grab him, earning the newest member of the team a 'T-thank you.'

They tried again, but it seemed as though Water Boy had a a hard time moving through the rising water, Phenomaman hearing swooshing sounds every time the young man moved his legs.

He nearly fell over again, Void catching him before he hit the water.

"Should I make the path biggah?" she asked, "Maybe that's the problem? Or I could grab some buckets ta get some of the extra water out?"

"Maybe just dump the water there now out and let him try again first." Punch Up suggested, "He won't be doing this with it up to his ankles like it is now. Then try makin' it bigger." He then looked to Phenomaman, "You mind going up and seeing how he's movin'? It might help."

"Alright." He agreed, taking into the air and floating above him as Void moved him out of the tub and then seemed to struggle with moving the tub itself.

"Lass?" Punch Up asked, concerned.

"The water is making it heavier." She explained, "I-I'm having some trouble moving it the way I want without risking it going everywhere."

"I can help lift it if needed." Phenomaman volunteered.

"That's not necessary." Brainbook said before saying, "Void, was it?"

"Yeah?" She replied.

"Can you make a long tube?" The genius asked.

"Uh, yeah? I don't see how that will help though." the rookie replied, shadows swirling into a tube that grew longer and longer by the second.

"I just need it to be long enough to get to the shower room." BrainBook said.

"I don't know where that is." Void said plainly.

"Oh, right, we did kinda skip the tour." Punch Up said, "Sorry Lass."

"We can do that once we're done with this." Water Boy offered, looking guilty.

"Just a little more..." BrainBook said, before telling her, "Stop, that's enough."

"Okay." She said, sounding tired.

She then walked over to the locker rooms, opened the door and then a minute later, she walked back out and went to the tub, submersing the other end of the tube for a moment before the water began to drain away. Phenomaman smiled as his brilliant friend said, "That should help. I'd give it a couple of seconds before getting rid of the tube."

Void gave her a thumbs up, looking a bit tired before she looked to the other rookie in the room.

"Water Boy? What kind of shoes are you wearing?" BrainBook asked.

"Boots?" He replied, confused by the question as he held up his foot, the sound of water sloshing in there making Phenomaman blink in surprise.

That sounded like a lot of water.

"Ah, they might be too heavy with all the water in there. Maybe try taking them off and see how you do." she suggested.

"O-oh, okay." He said before sitting down in the water and took off his boots, making sure to pour them out into the tub as it drained before dropping them on the ground.

Huh, he'd always noticed that Water Boy was a bit clumsy, but to have that much water in his shoes probably made it hard for him to walk around in general, let alone move quickly and efficiency. Hmm. He decided to try to remember that and see if he could look into shoes that would be more helpful to him.

"Mate, how did you walk with all that water in there?" Void asked.

"Oh, uh, i-it's normal for me." He said with a shrug before carefully getting back up.

"Perhaps you should try skating just on the floor here." Brainbook said, "We can simply wipe it up later."

Water Boy looked at Void, who seemed to look a bit tired and... was her hair looking a bit lighter? "I-is that okay with you? I mean, you did make it so we wouldn't make a mess."

"Mate, I will happily mop up the water if it means I don't have ta lift it." she replied before BrainBook told her she could get rid of the tube and the tub. Which she did, much to her relief.

The young man stared at the puddle forming at his feet, uneasy.

"You can do it, Water Boy!" Phenomaman cheered, "I believe you can do it!"

Water Boy looked up at him, eyes wide before smiling broadly and putting his goggles on, "O-okay, move feet outwards as I try to move forwards..."

"And keep your hands out, just in case Lad." Punch Up said, "Don't want you fallin' again."

"I can catch him foine." Void insisted.

"It's not that you can't Lass, it's that he needs to learn to catch himself." Punch Up said, "Plus you are starting ta look a bit tired."

"I'm foine." She pouted, but crossed her arms, "But I'll only catch him if he could get seriously hurt."

He nodded his thanks, held out his hands and began moving forward, he wobbled a bit, but he seemed to be doing much better now that his boots were off.

"YOU'RE DOING IT, WATER BOY!" Phenomaman cried out, proud, "YOU'RE DOING IT!"

"I AM!" he laughed as he began to slowly turn so he was now going in a large circle, "I AM DOING IT!"

"Keep it up, Lad!" Punch Up called, smiling broadly as he pumped his fist into the air.

Void and BrainBook both watched him carefully, although Void looked like she was waiting to see if she needed to catch him again, while BrainBook watched him in a more analytical way.

"Slide!" a voice cheered, revealing Sonar and Coupe were back as Sonar pumped his own fists, "Come on, kid! Slide like you're a cool guy in a sports movie!"

Water Boy beamed at the suggestion, "How do I do that?" He asked.

"Slowly lean back and keep one foot in front." Coupe instructed, "Keep one hand in front and one towards the back, to catch yourself, just in case." She then posed to show him how it worked.

He slowly did so, and managed to slide to a stop, "I DID IT!!" He shouted excitedly as he threw his hands into the air.

"WOOO BABY!" Sonar cheered.

"PHENOMENAL!" Phenomaman cried happily.

"Noice work, Mate." Void said, a shadowy hand gently patting him on the back.

"Great job!" Punch Up said as Coupe clapped beside him, "Now, let's go again!"

"Phenomaman, BrainBook, I need you both to help with a break in, the thieves triggered a lock down for the panic room they were all in and we need someone to get them out and then make sure the thieves don't get away." Galen said.

"We're on it." BrainBook replied before she looked up to her friend, "You mind giving me a ride, Phin?" she asked.

He smiled, "Of course!" He then lowered to the floor, carefully scooped her up and looked to the others, "We'll see you all later, keep up the great work Water Boy!"

"T-thank you sir!" he said, smiling broadly.

Phenomaman felt pride in the young man's accomplishment as he flew out the building with BrainBook in his arms.

"... I feel like I made a mistake in my previous analysis of your current team." She said.

"Oh?" He asked.

She sighed, "Pom Pom said I shouldn't make judgements based on rumors alone. And while their work reports are a mess, they get the job done. And seeing them help Water Boy, who was a Janitor until a little while ago... it certainly shows that I need to get more information on them before I can properly judge if they are actually trying to be better."

"Well, if you'd like, I will let you know the next time we have drinks or a party. Would that help with your analysis?" He offered.

Her cheeks reddened before she said, "I-I would like that. It would be good to know for sure that you are among good people... Also I think I have an idea for Water Boy's shoe problem...

Phenomaman perked up, "Really? That would be fantastic! Do tell!"

She brightened and began telling him about 'Pool Shoes' and how she planned to look into different brands to get a better idea which ones would work best for Water Boy and Phenomaman couldn't help but feel that BrainBook actually liked his new team way more than she let on.

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic Chapter 3

Invisigal watched as they entered the training room. It always reminded her of a school gym, with the wooden floors sneakers always squeaked on and a high ceiling that never got closer no matter how hard you tried to climb that damn rope.

She and the rest of the team, minus Phenomaman, watched on one side while Water Boy stood on the other, his back seemingly glued to the wall as Punch Up and Void went to the center of the room and began stretching. She clenched her fists and did her best not to seem too agitated.

But she really couldn't help it.

She didn't trust the new girl.

After work yesterday, she had googled 'Villainess Void' and after scrolling through articles, pictures and videos, she had to concede that her new co-worker was who she said she was. But then, why was she here?

If she wanted updates, she had no doubt that Blonde Blazer would tell Void if they found any information about her brother. But she instead wanted to join them and work as a hero in exchange for it. The less skeptical part of her wondered if it was Void wanting to do good to make up for the bad she'd done before and hope that, if she did enough good, she would get to see her brother again...

But the rest of her skeptical brain recalled that she had been a double agent for a while. Getting close to them to get something out of someone else. Or she could be working here to get intel to pass along to her brother who was working with Red Ring or someone else. She knew she'd heard the brother's alias before in Red Ring, but she just couldn't recall where or when or why he was mentioned.

Ugh! That was going to drive her crazy!

"Visi, you good?" Prism asked, an arched eyebrow visible over the shades.

"Just wondering if we really need another teammate." She said plainly.

Prism scoffed, "Bitch, you just still mad that she got you."

Invisigal scowled at her and flipped her off.

"Okay Lass, first I wanna see how well you fight hand to hand." Punch Up said before putting up his fists and moving his feet a bit apart.

Void nodded and did her best to mirror him, making Invisigal feel rage start to bubble in her belly before shouting, "WHAT THE FUCK?! I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DON'T LIKE BEING TOUCHED?! I SO MUCH AS TAP YOU ON THE SHOULDER-"

"Glad you remembered." She said without looking at her, "'N you're roight, I don't loike bein' touched, but that doesn't mean I don't know how ta foight." She then smiled as Punch Up's shadow suddenly rose from the floor as a three dimensional copy of him, his posture the same as the real one as she then said, "It just means that I need ta be clevah."

She then released one fist to twirl her finger around in a circle, a silent request for him to turn around, making Punch Up frown and turn just to be punched in the face by his double, making him fall forward from the force and crash onto the ground.

Invisigal's jaw dropped. That was... that was...

"That was impressive." Golem summed up, as if hearing her thoughts.

"Okay, you got me," Punch Up said, sounding a bit pleased by the unexpected attack, rubbing his jaw as he sat up, "I was not expecting that, and while it was a good first hit, let's see how that thing lasts."

He then put up his fists again and Void looked a bit nervous as Punch Up began boxing his dark double, at first it seemed to do well, dodging punches and punching back, but once Punch Up got a hit in on it, the spot where he hit was gone and the shadow body's power suddenly was halved. Void seemed to panic a bit as she struggled to help the copy reform, but it was too late. Punch Up smiled and began hammering the shadow into nothing with his fists, once it was completely gone, he turned and said, "Well, I give you points for the first hit AND making it handsome, but that was actually pretty easy."

"Fuck..." Void groaned, clearly disappointed in herself.

"Hey, it was good trick though." He said encouragingly, "Where did you get the idea ta do that?"

"Uh, video game?" she offered, looking a bit embarrassed, "I didn't really have someone around who had powers loike me, so I took inspiration where I could..."

"So you took it from Dark Link from Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time?" Water Boy asked, without studdering, to Invisigirl's surprise.

She turned around, surprised, "Y-yeah, you played?"

"Y-yeah, but I never got past that boss." He admitted sheepishly.

"Same, made my brotha do it for me," She revealed before looking back at Punch Up, "Was it really that weak though?"

"Yeah, you usually make doubles like that ta fight others?" He asked.

"No, honestly I usually make them to work as body doubles, distractions, and one toime ta scare off my neighbor's stalker." She told him, then looked a little embarrassed as she admitted that, "This is the first toime I used it like this. N' I only did it 'cause I koinda wanted to show off a little..."

Punch Up nodded, understanding, before asking, "So what do you normally do in a fight?"

"Well, usually I try to restrain my opponent. Either ta make sure I can escape safely or so I can then slam them against everything and anything I can foind without getting hurt." She explained.

"So what do you do when faced against projectiles?" Coupe asked stepping from the wall and next to Punch Up.

"Block them, usually." She said, as a large, dark angular mass erupted from the ground, "Loike this."

"You never try to grab them or use them against your opponent?" Coupe posed, "It would use less energy than making such a large shield."

"Grab 'um, yeah. Use 'um against them? Nah, the ones I fought who shot at me either used bullets or blasts or gems or giant fucking crystals." Void made a crystal out of darkness that was the size of a five dollar sub sandwich to show them just how big they were before letting it dissipate and told them that, "I kept the crystals 'n gems, we needed the cash..."

That comment got some chuckles and nods from the peanut gallery. And while Invisigal didn't want to admit it, she would've done the same in Void's shoes.

"Understandable." Coupe said, "You wouldn't happen to have any more of those, would you?"

"Nah, sold them all. College is expensive as shit." She said plainly.

Sonar muttered, "Amen sister. Harvard isn't cheap."

Invisigal was about to roll her eyes at Sonar mentioning Harvard AGAIN as Robert's voice came over comms, so she paused and listened. "Coupe, Sonar, we have a flying kidnapper with a seven year old, he's heading towards the docks."

"On our way." Coupe said as she looked to Sonar before the two ran out of the training room, expressions grave.

Poor kid, hopefully they didn't freak out at Sonar's face during the rescue.

"Okay," Punch Up said, "I'm getting the training dummy, why don't you show me how you usually restrain someone and we can go from there?"

"Okay." She said as he went into a storage room in search of a dummy.

"Flambae, guy with ice powers is ruining his seventy-five year old mother-in-law's wedding to her best friend because he has a problem with lesbians." Robert said, "I'm sending you in, but please be careful, the venue informed me the place is covered in flowers and they do not want to burn down."

"Yeah, Bobert, I got it." He said flatly before asking, "You think they'll let me have some cake if I save the day?"

"I dunno, but I think you'll have a better shot if you don't burn the venue down." Robert replied flatly, "Also one of the brides said she'd pay you fifty bucks if you can burn off the guy's goatee, but you didn't hear that from me."

Flambae smiled at that and started running, "Tell those ladies I'm on the way!" He said eagerly.

"Take pics of his face when you're done!" Prism said to his retreating back. He gave her a thumbs up before leaving.

Punch Up returned with the dummy, "Alright lass, I'll throw it over to ya and you show us how you normally do it, alright?"

"Okay..." she said, sounding a bit nervous.

Invisigal smirked a bit, good, let her be nervous.

Punch Up tossed the dummy towards her and immediately darkness erupted from her shadow and wrapped around the dummy before slamming it to the ground with a loud BAM. And, too Invisigal's shock, she watched the thick, almost web like darkness throbbed like it was a blood vessel and dark tendrils connected to each other more and more. Even going as far as covering where the mouth would be on the head.

"... Not gonna lie Lass," Punch Up said, "This is looks terrifying."

"Thank you?" She replied, "I got it from a Spider Man villain."

"Venom?" Water Boy offered.

"Yeah!" She said, pleased he knew which one, "My brothah and cousins got me inta comics, 'n Venom gave me a bunch of ideas on how ta use my powers-."

"Focus Lass." Punch Up said.

"Sorry." she said, looking a bit sheepish.

"Now do you normally go over the whole body like this?" the Irishman asked.

"Eventually yes. But some toimes I can only get one limb, so I just koinda..." the dark veins released most of the body, save one arm. Then they seemed to stretch and lift the body by the arm before slamming it against wall sat between where Invisigal, Golem, Malevola and Prism stood and where Water Boy stood, the head and other limbs scattering everywhere as the torso then sank to the ground with a deafening thud. The shadowy veins still holding the arm.

"Holy shit." Invisigal squeaked, her stomach twisting at the thought that what happened to that dummy could've easily happened to her yesterday.

Okay, she was definitely not going to touch her again.

"Damn." Malevola marveled.

"... Well, I'm glad ya didn't do that to me." Punch Up said as he picked up a plastic leg, a giant crack in the side of it.

"I-I didn't mean ta smash it that bad..." Void said, looking upset as the shadows lowered the arm into her hands, "I-I'm gonna hafta pay for a replacement, aren't I?"

"Yeah." Punch Up said before tossing the leg behind him before walking over to her, "But we probably needed a new one anyways if it cracked that easy. Don't worry yourself about it, Lass." He said as he took the arm from her.

"But-" she began.

"No buts." He said sternly before he tossed the arm over his shoulder and started giving her a bit of a pep talk, calling out to Water Boy to chime in as he did so.

Robert's voice came over comms, "Malevola, I have a fishing boat sinking off the coast, I need you to get those people out of there."

Malevola stretched, "Got it, just send me the location." She then created a portal and walked into it as she said, "You owe me a foightin' one next."

"I'll see what I can do." her replied before saying, "Golem, a cat is stuck in a storm drain after some heavy rains caused a mud slide. It isn't doing well, speed will be needed."

"On my way." He said before patting Invisigal on the shoulder, "Give the girl a break, Visi."

Invisigal opened her mouth to protest that she hadn't said or done anything, but stopped knowing that it was a lie.

He smiled knowingly at her before quickly making his way out.

"Just you, me, Punch Up and the two newbies." Prism said as she glanced at her phone, "And a bunch of videos I found last night, showing the new girl's work back when she was a villain."

"Yeah, saw those." she said, trying to sound nonchalant about it as she made a point to look at her nails, "She and her brother were more like a comedy duo than actual threats."

"Like you never fucked around on a job." Prism countered, clearly not buying her attempt to show that she didn't care as much as she actually did.

"Not like that!" she argued, but before she could finish her statement, Robert's voice cut through, "Prism, how would you like to verbally cut the balls off Danny 'Bone Zone' Diaz as he and his guest try to shit talk the team?"

"Is it my birthday!?" she asked excitedly, "Tell those sons of bitches I'll be right there!" She said before dashing out, passing Phenomaman and a woman Invisigal had seen sometimes in the break room, but never spoke to.

"Hey!" Punch Up called when he spotted them and waved, "Welcome back!" The two younger members quickly turning and echoing his greeting.

"Allow me to introduce my friend, BrainBook." Phenomaman announced to the room before introducing her to the three training today, "and that over there is Invisigal." He said finally before asking, "How have our less experienced members been?"

"New girl has been showing off, broke a training dummy." she reported, "Haven't seen we-Water Boy's new tricks yet."

"Yeah, what are your powers?" Void asked him, "Based on yer name I can guess it involves water, but not what you can do with it. Can you control water or-?"

"O-oh uh, I c-can create water." He said, a bit embarrassed, "I have Hydro Breath and create water through uh..." He motioned to his soaking body, "Existing?"

"Fascinating." BrainBook said, "You know, if you had been born in certain parts of the world, where clean drinking water is hard to get, people could consider you a God for such powers?"

"T-t-that s-sounds like a lot of p-pressure!" He squeaked, hugging himself, wet hands slapping against a wet suit.

"Hm, I suppose that could be true." She said thoughtfully, "But most people would rejoice at the thought of that kind of power..."

"N-no! I-I'm happy just t-to have a c-chance to h-help!" He insisted.

"That is an admirable way to think, Water Boy!" Phenomaman said proudly, "Come to think of it, Robert did mention that you often will go out and help others if he has no tasks for you!"

"That sounds somewhat problematic." BrainBook frowned, "While helping people is important, but going out at random to help could make it harder on your co-workers if they need your help."

Water Boy flinched, "Yeah, Robert talked to me about that..."

Punch Up patted him on the back, "We'll work on that, Lad. But for now, maybe we can try the thing we talked about at the bar yesterday-"

"Invisigal, we have a coffee shop robbery, only one assailant, I'm sending you on this one." Robert said, saving her from watching Water Boy's training. She wasn't sure how to feel about that, because on one hand, whatever they came up with could fail and it could be funny. Or she'd have to watch him struggle and while he wasn't her favorite person, she didn't want to see that either...

"Okay, I'll head out." She said, extra loudly for the others to hear before walking swiftly to the door. Once she was done with this job, she was going to need to stop for a smoke and a think.

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic chapter 2

Herman rubbed his head as he got off the bus, while he had thankfully, but not meaning to, watered down his own drinks last night, he still had a hangover from drinking four beers and eight shots of whiskey after losing several arm wrestling matches to Punch Up.

Even though his system should be able to help clear out his body of all the alcohol, it still lingered in a headache that the morning sun and bus noises seemed to make worse.

"Mornin'." A somewhat familiar voice called, making him jump, then grab at his head before nervously chirping out a 'M-morning' back.

"Hangover?" the new girl, er, Void, he believed she was called, asked as the painfully sunny morning suddenly became darker.

He looked up to see a mass of darkness blocking the morning sun above him. He felt his head feel a little less achy as he looked back to her and stammered out a 'T-thanks.'

"No worries, hangovers are a bitch." She said plainly, then gave him a curious look as she said, "Most people with hangovers sleep in, surprised to see you in so early."

"I-It's kind of a habit at this point..." He admitted, "I-I was a janitor before I became a hero-in-training..." He then looked at her, wearing a t-shirt, gym shorts, combat boots and her hair up in a ponytail, "W-why are you here early wearing g-gym clothes?"

She shrugged, "First day, want ta make a good impression. As for the clothes, well, we're training today. 'N it's not loike anyone besoides you will know I'm wearin' gym clothes."

"H-how is th-" He began, only to see shadows rise up from the ground and wrap around her, making her look as if she was wearing the same outfit she had the day before. He stood there, unable to finish his sentence as she seemed to do a quick inspection of her work.

"D-do you do that all the time?!" He blurted.

"Yeah, helps me protect my civilian identity, don't have to do laundry constantly for my uniform, and it means I can alter it however I want if I'm too hot or too cold." She listed as she seemed to count them off of her fingers.

That was so cool! Why couldn't his powers let him do things like that?!

"GOOD GRACIUS! WHAT IS THIS GIANT DARK MASS DOING IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE?!" Phenomaman cried from somewhere above. Herman grabbed at his aching skull with a wince and Void walked out from beneath the dark mass and motioned for their co-worker to come down with a finger to her lips.

When he finally reached them, he whispered, "What is going on?"

Void thumbed back to him, "Hangover." she said quietly.

"Ah, I'm very sorry Water Boy." Phenomaman said softly, "I did not mean to hurt you."

"It's fine." He managed, "I should've watered my own drinks down more."

"Come on, I have somethin' that'll help. Just show me a dark space in the building 'n give me a tick."

"A tick?" Phenomaman repeated, confused.

"A bit of toime." She rephrased.

"Oh, yes, we can do that." He agreed.

It took a few minutes to find a dark spot (the break room with the lights off and the shades down and closed), but she quickly disappeared into the darkness and came back a couple of minutes later with three mugs of something steaming.

"Hot Cocoa?" she offered.

Herman took it graciously with a murmur of a thanks while Phenomaman took it with a smile, "I've had this before, it's quite good! Thank you!"

"Happy ta help." Void said, making a patch of darkness appear over Herman before turning on the lights in the break room, "Whenever I'm hungover or just havin' a bad day, I make myself some cocoa and I feel a little bettah." she said as she moved back towards the table.

"You have another cup of that?" A voice asked from the doorway.

They all turned to see Sonar, who stared at them quietly, waiting for a reply.

Void huffed, amused, "Turn out th' loight 'n I'll make you some."

The bat hybrid grinned broadly and flipped the switch before he seemed to easily make his way to the table (probably due to the being half-bat thing) Herman and Phenomaman greeting him as he sat down with them at the table.

A little bit later, Void was back with a steaming mug that she placed in front of Sonar, "Enjoy mate."

"Thanks, mate." he replied before blowing on the sweet drink to cool it down.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Another voice asked before letting out a low curse, "Can't reach..."

The light suddenly came back on, a dark hand vanishing beside the light switch, revealing Punch Up in the doorway with Chase not too far behind him

"The fuck were you dumbasses doing in the dark?" Chase asked plainly, holding an empty mug.

"Our newest member Void was kind enough to make us all Hot Cocoa." Phenomaman explained, holding up the mug, "She needed the lights out to so."

"And why is that?" Chase asked as he and the Irishman entered the break room.

"Cause my kettle 'n cocoa mix are at home." She explained, "'N I can get them from home without leavin' the buildin' if the loights are out... But in retrospect, maybe I should've just brought the stuff to make it here instead of goin' back 'n forth so often 'n savin' myself some toime."

"Probably." Punch Up said before asking, "can I have one of those too?"

"Sure," she said with grin before she looked at Chase, "You want one too?"

"I mean, if you're offerin'." He said, giving her a smile and holding out his empty mug.

She chuckled, "Yeah, just let me turn out the loights one more toime 'n I'll bring my stuff over here ta make it easier on everyone." She said, walking over to the light switch to turn it out once more. A few minutes later, the lights came back on and revealed Void with an electric kettle and a massive tub labelled 'Cocoa Mix'.

She then busied herself with fixing the newest people in the room cocoa after taking Chase's mug from him.

"So, any particular reason you three had the new girl making you cocoa?" Chase asked, eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

Herman rose his hand, "I-I have a bit of a hangover and she made it to h-help. That's also why I h-have the," He motioned to the dark shadow over his head.

"Hangover? You only had a couple of shots! And I know you watered 'um down! I mean, I know it wasn't on purpose, but it still happened." Punch Up said plainly. Herman winced at the hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Y-yeah, I've never really gone out to drink much, after work I usually take care of my g-grandma..." He admitted, "So I'm not r-really used to it..."

Punch Up patted his arm as Void brought him and Chase the cocoa, "We'll work on it, lad." He then took a mug from her with a "Thanks lass." Chase thanked her too and she picked up her own mug and leaned against the counter closest to them.

"It's good of ya ta take care of your grandma, though." She said, pointing at him, "It's sweet."

Herman felt a flush on his cheeks before shrugging and taking another sip, feeling the puddle at his feet grow larger and silently wishing his power could be more useful, like Void's was.

More and more people started to come in, some joined their little cocoa corner table, others politely passed in favor of coffee. Malevola and Coupe were eager to meet Void, as they were curious about her, being a fellow Australian and someone else with control over shadows.

She seemed surprised that they'd be interested in talking with her, but it didn't take long for her and Malevola began excitedly chatting about the differences between Evil Australia and Regular Australia. (Which, as far as Herman understood, Evil Australia had more fire and Regular Australia had more venomous creatures.) As the rest of their team joined them, Herman felt the headache start to lesson as he drained the last of his cocoa.

Finally Robert came in with Beef, who Chase took immediately along with his empty mug before thanking Void for the cocoa and leaving the room.

"Good to see you all getting along." he said flatly, "Hopefully that means you've all being staying out of trouble."

"As far as you know." Flambe smirked.

"... Okay then," He said, "I'll be at my desk if any of you need me. Punch Up, Phenomaman, Water Boy, Void, I know I said you four would be training today, but Galen's team is down two people"

"Are they alright?" Phenomaman asked, concerned.

"Well apparently Star Shield's sister is having her baby so she is out today to be with her while her husband is flying back from a conference and Crow Feather has a bad fever. So they'll be fine, he just needs someone strong who can fly, so I figured you, Phenomaman, would be perfect to help him out today. Plus I'm pretty sure you've worked with some of his team before. BrainBook and PomPom, I think their names were?"

"Ah, yes! I have! It has been a while since I've been able to see them. It will be nice to catch up between assignments!" He then looked to Punch Up, Water Boy and Void, "I am sorry I cannot be of assistance today with training though." he said sullenly.

"It's fine, lad." Punch up said with a dismissive wave of his hand, "I've got the two rookies handled."

"Plus you could ask them for more ideas to help with training." Sonar commented.

"And it's not like you're changing offices." Golem pointed out, "Just working with other friends."

Phenomaman smiled broadly at them before nodding and looking to Robert, "I will report to Galen at once." he said with a salute.

"Thanks Phenomaman, and it's just for today, I'll have you back working with the rest of the team tomorrow." Robert assured him with a pat on the back before the alien left the break room.

"Okay, the rest of you will work as normal, Punch Up, I'm holding you to what you just said." Robert said plainly before leaving the room, most likely heading to his desk.

Punch Up hopped off his chair, "Alright you two." He said, pointing to Herman and Void, "Follow me."

"W-we should clean these first." Herman said, motioning to their empty mugs.

"Yer not the janitor anymore, Lad." Punch Up said, "Ya don't need to clean up after everyone."

"But we-"

"Mate, we can clean them later." Void said, "Just leave 'um in the sink for now."

"...okay..." He finally agreed, watching dark tendrils wrap around the mugs and then move them into the sink before getting up and following Punch Up and Void out of the room, leaving the rest of the team behind.

Or so he'd thought. The rest of the team quickly dashed after them, most likely to watch the training happen. He felt more water drip off his body as his nervousness grew.

Great... an audience of his co-workers... no pressure.

"So, who would like to go first?" Punch Up asked, "Or we can have you two go head to head and move on from there."

It was quiet for a moment, Void glanced up at him and he did his best to not look nervous, but knowing how he was, he was probably messing that up.

"I'll go first." Void volunteered, looking at Herman, "If you don't moind."

He shook his head, "N-no, no! It's probably b-better if we can see what you can do, j-just in case any of us are paired with you tomorrow!"

"Alright then Lass, once we get to the training room, we'll go head ta head for a bit." he said, motioning to himself and her with a wave of his hand, "But don't you worry, I'll go easy on ya." He assured her before giving Herman a gentle pat on the back of the leg, "I won't go easy on you, though, Lad. I've seen how hard you've worked lately, can't let you go soft now, can I?"

Herman felt a small warmth in his chest from the praise as he said, "Y-yeah."

[lolzwaitwhat]

Dispatch fic

Robert walked towards Blonde Blazer's office, wondering which one of his team fucked up this time to get him called in.

Shit, after everything that happened with Shroud, he managed to get the ones he had to let go back as well as to have Phenomaman AND Water Boy on the team. Yeah it was a lot of work babysitting all of them, but they were his team and they had worked really hard. He was hoping none of them did something that would get them cut...

Once he was in front of her office, he politely knocked on the door.

"It's open!" she called out.

He opened the door to see that her office was oddly dark. He slipped inside and went to sit down in a chair, only to jump when he saw someone was already there.

A woman wearing a black blouse, purple stripped pants, combat boots and a metallic spiked headband that held back long black hair. But the thing that struck him most were the eyes, as the whites of her eyes were black and the pupils were white. The Irises were brown though.

"Robert, sit down, please." Blazer said, motioning to another chair.

"You want to explain what's going on?" He asked.

"First, Void, meet Robert. Robert, this is Void. She was a Super Villain on the East Coast until about eight years ago. She has some information and I wanted to talk to you about this."

"Oh?" He asked, "And what exactly would send a retired Villain from the east coast all the way over here after almost ten years of retirement?"

"My brotha." Void replied, her Australian accented voice making him nearly jump in his seat, "He was known as 'Voltaic' years ago. Went ta MIT, didn't get ta graduate because of the accident that gave him electrical powers..."

"Yeah, classic get super powers story." he said flatly, leaning back in his seat.

"He can generate 'n control electricity AND he can travel on strong enough currents of it." Void added, Robert straightened a bit in his seat. A person smart enough to get into MIT with those powers could be a problem, but it seems the problem was about to get worse as the young woman continued, "Six months ago, I went to his place 'n it was trashed. Signs of a fight. Blood. Cops were useless, so I reached out to some old contacts. Got intel that a group called Red Ring were lookin' for him."

Robert stiffened in his seat, then looked to Blonde Blazer who said, "But after you and your team defeated Shroud and the Red Ring, we didn't find her brother in their bases or their ranks."

"So that leaves her Electrical MIT smart brother somewhere out there and we don't know where he is, what he's being made to do-"

"Or if he's okay." Void finished for him, her voice soft, "Yeah."

"I informed everyone who should know the situation, but there is a lot to go through when it comes to Shroud and the Red Ring. Void here," she motioned to the woman in the seat beside him, "Volunteered to join our branch as a hero in exchange for any information that can be found about her brother to assist her in finding him."

"And you want her to join the Z-team?" Robert guessed.

Blazer looked a bit sheepish, "Yeah, I know you have more people on your team than anyone else here, but you are the one with the most experience with former villains..."

He held up his hand, "I want to see her file, then I'll let you know." He said.

Blazer nodded and handed him the file.

"If yer gonna do that, I'm gonna go foind a bathroom." Void said, then looked to Blazer, "That okay?"

"Yeah, there is one just down the hall and to your left." Blazer said.

"Ta." She said, then seemed to vanish into the darkness in the room.

"So, powers over darkness?" He said as he looked at the file then frowned, "Uh, where did you get the file?"

"The east coast division sent it over. I've updated bits of the information since she's come in and asked to join, but the only mug shot they had of her to use for the file was from when she was sixteen." Blazer explained.

"Well, her age at the time makes this picture make a lot more sense." He said bluntly, pointing to the picture of a teenage girl with what looked like black tears coming down her face as she stuck out her tongue and flipped off whoever had been behind the camera attached to the file.

"Yeah well, that was the only one they managed to get of her before she and her brother broke out." she said, "And since they both stopped years ago, there was no reason for them to update the photos since they weren't causing trouble. I'll ask her to take another one today before she leaves for her ID badge and use that on her file moving forward."

'Void.

Darkness of the Duo

Shadow. Versatile.

Age: (UPDATED) 26

Height: (UPDATED)5'3"

Abilities: Can manipulate shadows and darkness. Shadow Travel.

Birthplace: (UPDATED) Alice Springs, Australia

Bio: (UPDATED)Due to a family curse that effects only women, she gained powers over darkness. Was half of a Villainous duo with her brother known as 'Voltaic'. Does not like to be touched.

Crimes: Vandalism, Property damage, Assault, Kidnapping, Theft'

"Hmm, similar strengths to some of the others on the team..." Robert said thoughtfully before looking to Blazer, "But can you elaborate on the 'does not like to be touched' part?"

"She doesn't like it when people physically touch her." she said with a shrug, "When I reached out to shake her hand, she told he that she doesn't like to be touched, but made a hand out of shadow to shake mine with. I didn't really question it because, well, we've seen stranger."

Robert considered this information, her being adverse to physical touch might cause problems in the field, and her if the team found out about it. But her disliking being touched did not mean that she couldn't touch anyone else, if anything, it could be related to her curse. Maybe when she touched people, she could see their darkest desires or something.

He grimaced at the thought. Gross.

"Uh, so is that a no?" Blazer asked.

"Huh, oh, no uh, I'll give her a trial. But I was trying to think of logistics moving forward."

"Oh?" she asked, intrigued.

"I don't mind having a big team, but I was wondering if I could have some of them working jobs and others training and working to improve their teamwork here." He said, "Helping them get better with their powers so they can handle more difficult assignments."

"Hmmm," She said, "Interesting, but who would be the first ones you have train?"

"Hmm, Water Boy definitely needs some more training. Maybe have him, Void, Punch Up and..." He paused, thinking...

Flambae had an issue with Water Boy, on one hand, it might help if they spent time with one another to get to know one another better... but Flambae was also just an enormous asshole and bullied him. And he didn't want Water Boy to get more discouraged.

Phenomaman was an experienced hero and friendly, but still got a bit depressed from time to time. Giving him the task of helping to train Water Boy could be a big help. But the man was also a bit gullible. And while Water Boy was a nice enough kid, Punch Up could be a little shit when he wanted to be and he knew nothing about Void's personality. So there was a risk.

Then there was Coupe, she was a skilled fighter who could teach Water Boy, but she was also friends with Punch up and they could just fuck around instead of helping their least experienced teammate and leaving all the work to Void.

"Phenomaman. He's got plenty of experience and is the most likely to listen to Void the first time if she says she does not like physical touch." He finally decided.

"He is very respectful of other people's boundaries." Blazer agreed, "Okay, tomorrow we'll start this new idea of yours for the team. It also could be good for those three to give Void a full tour of the office."

"Sounds good. If I feel like I need more people on the team, I'll adjust the amount of people again. I think I'll give this a week to see how it goes."

"Great! So do you want to introduce Void to the team now or-"

BOOM! CRASH!

"FUCK!" Invisigal screamed.

Robert and Blazer exchanged a look before running out of the office to see Invisigal struggling against a dark spectral hand that had her pinned to the wall, the rest of the team staring wide eyed at her in shock.

"I told you." Void's voice said as she walked out of the bathroom, drying her hand with a paper towel, "I don't. Loike. Bein'. Touched."

"So you slam me against the wall?!" Invisigal shouted, only for the shadowy hand to squeeze harder.

"Yer th' one who touched me without my consent in th' bathroom." Void said plainly before balling up the paper towel and then throwing it at her head, "Perv."

Malevola, Coupe, Punch Up, Flambae, Sonar, Golem and Prism started cracking up. Water Boy and Phenomaman looked concerned. Robert rubbed his temples. Welp, looks like he was going to get the introductions done now.

"Man, Visi, you couldn't let her have one second to wash her hands?" Prism chuckled.

"IT WAS A PRANK!" Invisigal cried, clearly irritated as Water Boy reached to pick up the paper towel off the ground, soaking it immediately as he picked it up.

"Doin' somethin' someone asks you not ta do isn't a prank. It's disrespect." Void countered, "'N I'm not dealin' with that."

Invisigal glanced at her co-workers, many of whom seemed to take no issue with her current situation as Phenomaman nodded and said, "That is true, if someone asks you not to touch them, you should respect that and comply."

She scowled before finally spotting Robert and Blazer, "A little help here?!" she cried.

Robert looked at Void, "If she apologizes, will you let her go?"

"Depends, you think she'll try to touch me again?" Void asked.

Robert looked at Invisigal's furious face then said, "Nah, I think she learned her lesson."

"Foine." She said, before looking right at her expectantly.

They all waited for about ten seconds before Invisigal finally groaned.

"Ugh, I'm sorry okay? It wasn't cool to touch you when you said you didn't like it." Invisigal conceded.

"Apology accepted." Void said before the hand melted away, leaving Invisigal to scramble for a moment before landing on her feet.

"So, Team, I want you to meet our newest member, Void." Robert said, motioning to her, "With her joining, we're going to start having some of you train instead of waiting on standby for missions-"

"What?" Flambae cried, "Why?"

"Because there are a lot of you and there are only so many of you I can keep track of at a time." He revealed, "Also, it would be good for you all to help each other grow as heroes. Which is why we're starting this new arrangement tomorrow. Tomorrow Void is going to train here with Water Boy, Punch up and Phenomaman. I'd also like you three to give her a tour of the building and answer any questions she may have in regards to working here."

"It will be my pleasure to help the newest member of our team get settled in!" Phenomaman cried, giving Robert a salute.

"T-training?" Water Boy said, "I-I'll do my best!"

"Are we still getting paid to be here?" Punch Up asked.

"Yeah, Punch Up, the people who are training will still get paid to be here." Robert confirmed.

"Then fuck it, I'm in." Punch Up agreed.

"Alright, with that all taken care of, you can all go home now except for Void, as I think Blazer has some paperwork to go over with you."

Blazer nodded and motioned for Void to follow her back into her office. Void looked to the group, "It's noice to meet you all, I look forward to working with all of you." she then walked towards Blazer back into the office.

"I like her." Sonar said simply.

"Yeah, she seems like a strong one." Coupe agreed.

"You all like her because she pinned me to a wall!" Invisigal snapped.

"I definitely like her for that!" Flambae cackled.

"Same." Malevola agreed with a wide grin, "Plus, I love her accent."

"Good to know she left a mostly good impression on you all." Robert said, "Now, day's over, you all can head out. See you tomorrow. Water Boy, no staying late to clean, just go home."

"O-oh, uh, okay..." Water Boy said softly.

"Oh, come on Lad." Punch up said, grabbing at his leg, "Coupe and I are gonna grab drinks, why don't you come with us? We can work on ways ta help with your trainin' tomorrow."

"Oh, uh, y-yeah, thank you, I'd like that." He said, looking pleased.

"Do you mind if I join you as well?" Phenomaman asked, "I would like to assist if I can."

"Sure! The more the merrier!" Punch Up agreed.

Malevola and Sonar also decided to go out for drinks, Flambae was going to his niece's birthday dinner, Prism had a recording to work on for her newest album, leaving Invisigal and Robert alone in the hall.

"What the fuck was all that about?" She snapped, "Why is someone like that joining the team?"

"Back in Red Ring, did you ever hear of someone called 'Voltaic'?"

She looked taken aback for a moment before she seemed to get lost in thought, "I think someone mentioned the name once, but I had no context for it." She paused, "It have something to do with the new girl?"

"Voltaic is her brother." Robert said simply, "He went missing six months ago and so far there has been so sign of him since we beat Shroud."

"So she came here to... what? Find her brother? That's it?"

"In exchange for working for us, yes, we will tell her all we find out about her brother." Robert confirmed.

"What happens after we do find him? If he is ever found, I mean?"

"No clue." Robert said simply, "That is up to Void."

"Whatever..." She grumbled, then said, "Shit, now I kinda feel bad about poking her."

"You didn't feel bad about doing it after she told you not to?"

"No." She said plainly.

He sighed, "Go home, or go drinking with the others, I don't care. But I'm getting Beef and then heading home."

"Can I walk with you and pet Beef for a bit?" She asked, "Petting him always puts me in a good mood."

"Only if you can rangle him from Chase before I get to my car." He joked.

"Challenge accepted." She said before vanishing into thin air.

He sighed, but couldn't help but smile. Yeah, they could be annoying assholes sometimes, but he really did like his team. And he was curious about what was going to happen now that they had a new addition.

[captainmera]

I don't know where to find the energy these days.

It comes in tiny spurts, but I wish I had more, and I wish I could put it where I want it and not just on random things.

[lolzwaitwhat]

I feel this so often, sometimes I want to draw a long series of comics or write fanfics for hours but either have no energy or it’s garbage. I’ll get short spurts for some stuff, but I wish I had more, I have so many ideas and just want to put them down.

[dykespeare-deactivated20181228]

reblog if ur mom is smart and beautiful

[confident-fear]

This is one of my favorite sites on here because everyone who reblogged it truly believes it because their moms won’t actually see it