The scene Robert came back to at SDN was nothing short of chaos.
You had been right when you called it an all hands on deck sort of situation and clearly everyone at SDN felt the same way.
Papers were scattered on the floor where they were dropped from towering piles then forgotten, the carpet absorbed stains from coffee, tea, and energy drinks as rushed dispatchers spilled without notice in an effort to get back to their desk as quickly as possible.
With his own coffee in hand he all but collapsed onto his chair, not even having time to put his headset on before issues were being called out into the bullpen.
“Uhhhh report coming in from the refinery, multiple villains breaking containment,” Galen sounded worried as he called to Blazer across the room who was doing her best to multitask as well.
“Dispatch all available heroes in the area”
“Boss we don’t have any heroes in the area,” his response came quickly and dejectedly, a telling problem that set the tone for the shift.
“Electrix was on her way there,” he spoke up with a sigh, willing himself not to think about you running headfirst into that mess alone, trying to convince himself that you wouldn’t be dumb enough to try and contain them all on your own, “but just Electrix”
“Can you handle things here?” Blazer’s question was out of her mouth before he had even finished talking, a hint at just how at the forefront that idea had already been for her.
His answer came without any real thought, “go we got you covered”
Without any fanfare her tablet was passed off, and Blazer took off without another word. Leaving him, Galen, and Royd to fill in the gaps.
Logging into the computer he watched as only four of the z-team’s tiles came up as active. You, Prism, Golem, and Punch-up.
“Shit is this it?” The question had slipped out of him before he could even think to hold it back, Prism immediately taking the opportunity to punch back.
“Whatchoo mean is this it? Bitch you know what time it is?”
“Sorry I didn’t mean it like that,” he jumped to defend himself with a frustrated sigh. “Thanks for getting out of bed or whatever you were up to”
“I take gummies to fall asleep so I might be a little-“ Golem left his sentence to hang, Punch-up not letting the silence ring for too long before chiming in.
“You gonna finish your sentence big man?”
“Hm? Oh shit I thought I did”
Another dejected huff left him unbidden “Look we’re shorthanded, but we should have the rest of the team trickling in so we’ll have to make do for now. Lucky for us we got the best four heroes on the roster.”
“We all know you’d say the same shit about whoever was here” Prism voiced the obvious.
“Well if we all know then there’s no reason to point it out. Look alive”
“Rob I’m headed to the refinery it looks like something big is going down,” your voice sounded over the system and if it would help anything he’d be swearing repeatedly right now.
“We’ve got a report that multiple villains are breaking containment right now but Blazer is on her way so please just-“
“On it,” you broke in before he could finish, prompting him to get the rest out under his breath.
“-wait till she gets there” with a hand pinching the bridge of his nose he rose his voice again to address the rest of the team, “will someone please go with her?”
“On it boss man,” Prism chimed in helpfully.
There was no way this was going to go well.
-
He couldn’t let himself celebrate. Not yet.
Sonar had been taken down and the z-team had taken too many hits in order to make that happen, but the important thing to remember was that the city was still on fire, there were still people who needed help.
But it was a morale boost the team needed, and that was more than nothing.
“good work team” he laughed victoriously into the mic, watching the bubbles pop up against the map in rapid succession still, the amount of incoming calls borderline overwhelming “couple more calls-“
He cut himself off as soon as it happened, the screen going black leaving him staring at his own reflection.
The lights all over the building soon followed suit, the whole office plunging into darkness as an ominous alarm started to sound.
“Not good bro,” Royd’s voice sounded soft, defeated.
He watched the rest of the dispatchers start to file out of the building, an uncomfortable rush in their steps as each tried to hold on to their composure as they fled.
“Backup generator?” He asked Royd.
“Should already be on” Royd shook his head, fixing Robert with a look that was just as troubled as he felt.
Then suddenly with a bark Beef took off.
It took him longer than it should have to realize it.
He was kicking himself for it over and over again as he sprinted through the hallways.
The power went down and all he could do for too long was look confused, was question what happened, was follow the emergency prompts.
He was a super hero, his career was made on quick thinking and fast reflexes, and still it took him nearly a minute to even think about Chase. A man currently hooked up to medical equipment that’s instrumental to keeping him alive.
Beef had thought of it first.
He was steps behind Royd as they both ran to the bowls of the SDN building, Royd wasting no time in breaking for one of the utility rooms; he didn’t pay too much attention to which one just kept sprinting down the hall.
Rounding the corner he saw Chase’s room at the end of the hall, his door cracked open just wide enough for Robert to slip through.
He collided with a hard object as soon as he entered the room but he didn’t let it slow him down, hands coming instinctually to the shoulders of the person he had just crashed into to maneuver himself around them, barely even noticing the sound of your voice as he made a break for Chase.
And he was relieved to see he didn’t need to, the equipment was all still running, Chase’s chest still rose and fell, the heart rate monitor didn’t even detect any spikes.
“He’s fine Rob.” Only then did your voice register, only then did his gaze snap from Chase’s prone form to the person he had crashed into in trying to get into the room, to you.
“Electrix what?” The question tumbled out of him before he could even properly form it, breaths raggedly leaving him as he tried to force himself to calm down.
“Blazer flew me in as soon as we realized the power was down,” you shrugged almost awkwardly. And he could see now the toll a flight that quick had taken on you, on your hair more specifically. “Figured Chase may need someone who could keep the power on for him”
Chase. You came back for Chase. You’d thought of it even before he did. Had dropped everything to try and save him.
He was bounding across the room before he could talk himself out of it, wrapping his arms around you tight enough to hurt as he pulled you into his chest.
You stiffened at first which he had expected, but he didn’t let go yet, wasn’t going to until he could be sure you weren’t just surprised, weren’t just overthinking “I’m sorry I know you’re mad at me, but thank you”
And just as he had hoped you melted into the hug after that, wrapping your arms back around him in response, “You don’t have to thank me, not for this”
A sudden crash from down the hall had the two of you springing apart, too occupied with the strange noise to really feel any embarrassment over it.
Picking up Beef Robert placed him on Chase’s lap, giving the small dog the job of watching over him before he followed you down the hall silently.
Ducking into the lab you motioned you were going left with a small tilt of your head letting him take the right, the two of you falling into easy, familiar teamwork as you snuck forward.
The sneaking, however, didn’t seem to be necessary as his eyes caught the cause of the disturbance through the glass window, Royd battling with what appeared to be thin air, crashing against various desks and walls.
“I trusted you Visi! You were wrong for dis! I defended you” Royd pleaded with the invisible girl in his hands as she suddenly appeared, kicking him in the chest to try and break free.
“Fuckin put me down. I didn’t do anything!”
Robert made eye contact with you from between the two struggling people, a furrow in your brow matching his telling him you were just as lost as he was in the situation, “woah woah woah come on! Royd, let her go man.”
“No way bruddah. She go no where,” Royd refused, finally looking at him “she tried to steal your mech suit”
“Oh fuck off,” Visi broke in with an eye roll.
“It break my heart brah but Visi is a traiter. She played all of us.” There was too much happening at once, too much noise, too much kicking, too much info he didn’t know how to make sense of any of it in the moment.
“That’s not what I was trying to do,” Visi pleaded with him.
“I trusted you,” Royd’s voice dropped slightly as he shook his head in disappointment, carefully lowering Visi to the ground before zip tying her to one of the desks and extracting from her a glowing blue pulse.
“Holy shit,” he heard your gasp from the other side of Royd and he couldn’t help but agree as he instinctually reached out “is that real?”
“She bring da keys to steal da car but I stop her,” Royd nodded solemnly.
“You idiots you need me,” he could hear the desperation grow in Visi’s voice as she objected.
“You brought da Astral Pulse you already do enough.”
“You don’t know what’s coming.”
Finally, he was able to break in, to shut down Royd’s constant accusations long enough to try and figure out what was going on. “What are you talking about?”
Visi, however, didn’t get a chance to answer. You were moving quicker.
Grabbing a remote off the counter you changed the channel on the monitor over everyone’s heads just in time to catch white vans full of armed red ring members pouring out of them in the parking lot.
“Fuck” the word left him on an exhale as Royd ran around to the computer console, mumbling about Visi bringing them there as he did so.
Flipping through a few more cameras confirmed his worst fears. SDN dispatchers being held hostage, more of the Red Ring storming in, and Sonar strolling by as if he owned the place, making direct eye contact with the camera before taking it out.
“We unda attack,” Royd swore looking over at him “watch her I go get the power back.”
“No wait,” he stopped Royd before the thought had fully formed, risk calculations running through his head as he formed the words. “Royd, I need my suit running. It’s the only chance we have”
“They have jammers up,” Invisigal broke in, “you won’t be able to call out or in, it’s why the place isn’t already swarming with heroes. You need me.”
“You sure know a lot about the plan for someone not involved,” he leveled a glare at her in response.
“Look they tried to recruit me, of course they did,” she admitted with a sigh “but I said no.”
“Bullshit. Watch her. I go get the power back on,” Royd spat back at her before lowering him, dropping his voice to a whisper “I moved your Mecha Man suit to the rec room. Here. Take dis” before passing him a taser.
“Oh my god twinsies” he leveled a glare at you as you grinned back at him, struggling to fight the way the corner of his mouth tipped up in response.
“Since I’m clearly not need here,” you pointedly looked at the taser in his hands as he fought the urge to roll his eyes “I’ll go with Royd, maybe I can help get the power on.”
“Alright just be-“
“-careful,” you finished for him with a soft smile “you too.”
Passing him a small nod you and Royd took off, you pausing for a half a second beside him, sending a look over at Visi handcuffed on the ground still before whispering back to him “trust your gut Rob”.
Before he could respond you were gone.
“So I see you two fucked and made up,” Invisgal’s voice had him crashing back to Earth. He said nothing as he leveled a glare at the woman on the floor.
“Don’t know why you’re mad, I’m the one that had to endure all of that pathetic yearning” She continued on as he checked the camera feed, watching as you and Royd made your way to the maintenance room, “on your side of course since you were the only one who knew all of the context.”
With a huff he stalked across the room and grabbed one of the roller chairs, sitting down and planting his elbows on his knees, glaring at Invisigal from across the room.
“Alright untie me” still he refused to respond, refused to give in, refused to give her anything. She didn’t deserve it. “What why are you looking-“
“You didn’t lie to me but you didn’t tell me the truth,” he cut her off.
“Fucking really? You’re going to get high and mighty to me about not telling the truth?” She laughed sardonically.
“You worked for Shroud, you destroyed my suit, you stole the astral pulse-“ he started listing off the betrayals, laying at her feet a full account of her misdeeds.
“You’d known her for years and you just disappeared!” she shouted back interrupting him “you made her think you’d died and when she found out otherwise you still ignored her, hid behind this Robert guy-“
“We aren’t talking about me,” he tried to cut her off again, but she refused to let him get too far.
“No you’re too busy being a hypocritical piece of shit”
A loud sigh left him as he forced himself to calm down, to swallow down the anger, the resentment, the betrayal “I was worried about ruining things for her we’ve been over-“
“I was worried Shroud would come after you,” she cut him off in exasperation “I did it to protect you. Want to tell me we’re so different now?”
Another tense pause, another moment spent having to force himself to drop it “well he came after me anyways.”
“So if I gave it to you, he’d have the pulse right now”
Narrowing his eyes at Invisigal was the only response he gave, watching the woman almost shrink slightly on the spot as she admitted sheepishly “really. I was trying to protect you.”
And some stupid part of him believed that. Maybe it was naive, maybe it was optimistic, right now it was too much to deal with. “yeah, well the internal bleeding I got from your old boss isn’t making me feel very protected right now.”
Visi broke eye contact first, her gaze falling to the floor as Robert took a second to just watch her, study her, try and pin down what her motive was, before giving up. Pushing himself to his feet he made his way back over to the computers, watching a new guy play with what looked like sparks coming from his hands in front of the elevator.
“Thumbstick,” he barely heard her whisper from across the room.
“What?”
“That’s his name. Cause he sticks you with-“ she cut herself off suddenly, whipping her gaze around to meet his as she yanked uselessly on the zip tie “they’re all fucking idiots Robert but they’re dangerous! I’m not fucking around. Untie me. He looks stupid but he’s a killer. Just let me help you. Please.”
And for a second he debated it, weighed the pros and cons, calculated the odds, ran through every possibility his mind has been trained to run through in a situation like this. Then he stopped. Trust your gut you had told him, had whispered it to him before you left, had known somehow, he’d be in a situation like this long before he did. You’d already given him his answer.
With a string of curse words under his breath he broke for the closest desk, scrambling as he desperately looked for anything sharp. But all the toolboxes were locked, he didn’t have time to find a key.
“Robert,” Invisigal cried out just as his hand closed around his only hope, drawing his gaze up to the camera feed just in time to see two more people join Thumbstick as he waited for the elevator.
“Oh great,” it came out in a mumbled as he broke across the room back to Visi, kneeling down to her level to hold up the fruits of his search, a pair of bright green safety scissors.
She leveled him with a glare “What, are we in kindergarten?”
-
It’d felt good to be in the suit again, familiar, and yet somehow different. He’d always treated the suit as if it were an extension of his body. It was how he had been taught to use it, as a part of you rather than a tool.
There were no hitches, no delay, no drag. It reacted when he did, followed his every command. No mysterious smoke, no sparks from the dash, no issues. He’d almost forgotten what that had felt like.
As soon as he had arrived to the parking lot you had sprang into action with him, bounding for Robert without a second though and sending a little extra juice to his system like it was second nature.
You and he worked together as if a day hadn’t passed, you always seemed to know exactly where he needed you, exactly when he needed a little boost, exactly when you needed to clear out.
It felt like a weight off of his chest, to be back where he belonged, to be amongst a group of people he meshed seamlessly with.
But that’s where things differed slightly. He’d never had a team before, it was always just you and him, one other person to look after, to count on, to think of. All of a sudden there were 7. He found he didn’t mind the difference.
Another difference he hadn’t anticipated was just how much of the suit he was willing to put on the line. He’d always been a little reckless, he knew that, you’d called him out for it in fact, but he always protected the suit, always made sure there was an out for it, always relied on it. He and the suit were one, the loss of one without the other was unfathomable. So he wouldn’t put it in dangerous situations he wouldn’t also put his own body through.
But that wasn’t the case here, he leaned into it more, let the suit take more of the brunt, trusted it to protect him. Before he couldn’t imagine losing the suit, couldn’t imagine being a person outside of it. That wasn’t the case anymore.
And maybe that was the change he needed. Maybe that was the line he needed to cross, the sacrifice he needed to make. Maybe he just needed a team.
Whatever it was, however, it seemed to work. Shroud’s mech was in a heap of flames on the roof of SDN and though he wasn’t ready to trust yet that it was over, truly over, it felt good.
The team around him celebrated and he couldn’t help but watch with a smile on his face as they congratulated on another, as the new Chase/Blazer made peace with Invisigal, as you melted into the easy atmosphere of the z-team, when Chase’s exclamation suddenly broke everyone out of it, “Stop!”
All eyes whipped up to where he was pointing, the roof of the building, to Shroud dangling Beef by the scruff of his neck over the edge. He should’ve known better.
“Is that trackstar? What a surprise,” Shroud was too triumphant, too casual, too smug.
“Please Elliot…put him down,” Chase tried to reason with him.
“Who this fat fuck?” Thrusting the poor dog over the edge of the roof the whole team tensed, every arm going up instinctually as if to catch him, Beef’s poor little legs ran uselessly in the air as if to save himself.
“Why’s everyone so tense? I’m not gonna drop him,” Shroud baited them, gesturing with Beef as if the dog didn’t even matter. “Cause TrackBlondie there’ll just swoop in and catch him anyways. So yeah no, if I’m killing this dog I’m gonna be sure he dies.”
“Know this. If you hurt him you will die” the words practically spilled out of Robert, the threat springing forth without any need for forethought.
Shroud just laughed back at him, sounding almost gleeful at the threat, “no shit. So why don’t you and only you Robert fly your father’s suit and give me my fucking Astral Pulse.”
“Rob” he could hear the desperation in your voice, the plea. But there was no real choice, no other way out, no option but to comply.
Ignoring you completely he took off, easily landing the suit on the roof above, grabbing the pulse from its spot before extracting himself.
“There we go. So predictable,” Shroud taunted him the entire time. “I know this little sloppy guy is your weakness.” But he refused to raise to the bait, refused to give Shroud the satisfaction. “I knew it’d be him or Electrix, though she it much harder to get my hands on-“
“You’re going to want to stop talking right fucking now,” he cut him off with a glare, not enjoying how that seemed to egg him on further.
“Like I said. Predictable.” He gave Beefs ears a rough rub. “And finally, I knew you’d let in what did you call her invisigal? Knew she’d worm her way into your good graces; steal your trust like she’s stolen everything else. It’s why we planted her here.”
He could feel the betrayal strike through the z-team below, could feel each person’s gaze flock to the woman in question as she was handed a mask from a member of the red ring, could feel a desire to do the same, a draw in his gaze. But he couldn’t show that weakness, couldn’t show Shroud he was getting to him, that it was working.
“You always did feel the need to try and fix the unfixable.”
A commotion from down below finally did pull his attention, a weak punch thrown by Invisigal to the guy who’d given her the mask before she disappeared on the spot.
“Aww she’s embarrassed.”
Setting his jaw he pulled his attention back to Shroud, fingers tightening around the pulse, he’d deal with that later he supposed. Right now it was all about Beef.
“All that to say there isn’t a thing you can do that I haven’t modeled out. And once I have the Pulse, I won’t need to predict. I’ll just know. So don’t fuck around Robert. I’ll know.”
His eyes narrowed as he thought desperately for a way out, an alternate route, a plan, anything that could circumvent the inevitable.
“You either Electrix,” Shroud called down the warning and Robert watched as two separate red ring members pointed their guns at you, fingers hovering over the triggers.
There was no way out. All roads led to here and he could do nothing but play his part. “Same time. I just want a fair exchange.”
“Just don’t be an idiot and try to give me the shitty prototype. I’m a bad person but I’m a man of my word.”
And maybe in another life he’d consider it more, in other circumstances would come up with something better. But he was tired, he was frustrated, he wanted Beef back, he wanted the guns trained off your head, he wanted this to be done. The Z-team had saved the city once without the Pulse, he just had to trust they could do it again.
Holding out his hand with the pulse in it, Shroud did the same with Beef, a brief moment passing where the two weighed each other, before he let the pulse drop, let it slip through his hands once again.
Beef tumbled a fraction of a second later and Robert scrambled to catch the poor Chihuahua.
“I knew you’d be sensible.”
“It’s cursed,” he warned Shroud with a frown, “you should know that more than anyone.”
With a push of a button the mask surrounding Shroud’s face disappeared and the sad, angry, hollow shell of a man underneath was revealed “fuck you.”
Reaching up to above his ear Shroud inserted the pulse into the space left available for it in his skull, the pulse glowing red as it spun rapidly inside the glass as power surged through it, a scream ripping through Shroud as the new power coursed through him.
Sparks shot out from Shroud as he started to float, the very air around him becoming charged as he struggled with the new onslaught of power.
Almost as soon as it had taken over him it relinquished, Shroud dropping to his knees on the ground as his heavy breathing sounded, the man needing to take a second to catch his breath before he spoke softly, “that? Wow. That was worth the wait.”
Each member of the red ring glowed with the same mysterious red power Shroud did, sparks shooting out as they all tested their newfound strength.
“You feel that you fucking fucks? I told you! I fucking told you clowns” Shroud yelled manically over the edge of the roof down to his people below, “you feel the power? I can see it all. Every permutation. Every outcome.” With the red glow finally dissipating his eyes shot back to Robert, swift movement bringing a gun out from under his cape, barrel pointed directly at Robert before he had time to even process it.
“Woah woah woah hey come on,” Rober tried to reason with the man, hugging Beef closely to his chest as if he could protect him.
“If I let you live my odds of survival decrease exponentially,” he stated it so matter of factly, as if killing Robert was little more than a numbers game. “In fact-“ letting his sentence dangle he whistled to his people below, one of them seeming to know exactly what he meant as his arms came around your neck from behind effectively pinning you in place. “She can supercharge this thing right, she did so through contact with your suit.”
“she’s got nothing to do with this,” Robert bit back desperately only making Shroud chuckle.
“She’s useful, that makes her part of this,” and again he didn’t like how blasé he was about it all, how utilitarian, how heartless.
“You’ve already won just let them all go”
With a small tsk Shroud shook his head, giving him a look of almost disappointment, as if he expected better from Robert “I only win if you die.”
He didn’t have time to prepare himself for the shot, time to even really panic about it, the moment between the pull of the trigger and the pain in his shoulder was too quick, to instantaneous, too unpredictable.
But even as he was lying back on the ground there was a part of him that knew it should’ve hurt worse.
Hand coming up to inspect the wound he was surprised to see the bullet fall uselessly from the small dip it’d made in his skin, as if it had bounced off him rather than go through him.
It was only then that he noticed the new body on the ground, an all too familiar body.
Rushing forward he turned the body over to see Invisigal looking up at him, dark pool of blood rapidly forming under the hole in her shoulder, and he snapped.
There was no thought that went into the lunge, no real motive behind the first several punches he threw at Shroud, nothing passing through his mind other than needing to make Shroud pay, needing to make him hurt.
His knuckles stained red with Shroud’s blood, his arms hurt with the effort he continuously put in, but it was his own reflection that finally stopped him, a mirror image of himself peering up from the pool of water that sat beneath the bloody pulp that had become of Shroud.
This man had taken his father from him, had taken Invisigal, had nearly taken you and Beef. He was too dangerous to let go, he deserved this.
But did Robert deserve what would become of himself if he went through with it?
With a deep breath he pushed himself off the ground, all but ignoring Shroud as he scrambled over to Invisigal’s side, pulling her mask off her face and helping her get to her feet.
A cacophony of lights came from below and looking down he could see the rest of the z-team start to take out the remaining members of the red ring, could see the sun rise over the horizon, could see Beef wag his tail lightly as he looked up at his owner.
He knew then everything would be okay.
-
It was surprising how quickly everything could change after that.
At the start of the day half the city was on fire, Invisigal had stolen the astral pulse and betrayed him, Chase was in a medically induced coma, team morale was at an all time low, and you weren’t talking to him.
He fingered the pulse in his pocket as he watched the scene around him, a silent reminder that it was really there, as the team chatted idly amongst themselves. Congratulations, retellings of the fight, and genuine praised passed back and forth amongst them.
He watched Chase give a press conference to the local news team, cussing and getting distracted without a care in the world. He wondered if it would ever occur to the man that he was just as bad as the z-team sometimes.
With a soft chuckle to himself he cast his gaze out, looking around the lot until his eyes landed on you, sitting alone on the hood of someone’s car, a beer in hand, watching the scenery around you much as he had been, a soft smile on your lips.
He hesitated at first, a part of him wondering if now was really the time to dredge it all up or if he should give you the moment to just revel in victory.
But it was exactly thinking like that that had kept him from saying something to you for all that time. He was done avoiding his problems, done beating around the bush, done acting like this wasn’t killing him.
Setting off across the parking lot he approached you cautiously, giving you ample time to reject his advance, desperately trying not to revel in the small smile you sent his way instead.
Leaning back against the car beside you he said nothing at first, letting his eyes settle on the z-team across the lot just as yours were, letting the silence settle a bit before breaking it.
“We did good work,” his gaze snuck over to you as he said it, not willing to fully settle in until he knew you were open to it.
You snorted tiredly, a lazy smile on your face as you watched the z-team, “yeah we did.”
A silence settled over the two of you and Robert found himself unable to decide whether it was tense or not, struggling to decide if he should break it or not, “so-“
“Rob,” you sighed softly to cut him off and he felt his stomach fall, his entire body tensing up as your gaze finally slid over to meet his. You let the silence hang slightly, let him sit uncomfortably in it, before speaking, “we almost died today.”
“We almost die most days,” the words didn’t leave him dejectedly, it wasn’t a secret, wasn’t new information, simply a fact, a caution you’d both agreed long ago to take on.
“Yeah but today-“ you trailed off with a deep breath, eyes going back out to the team, “I don’t want to die being mad at you.”
“I’d prefer if you didn’t either,” the words left him tentatively, appreciating the small smirk you gave him in response, finally feeling his shoulders drop, feeling himself loosen.
“Exactly why I’ve decided I won’t be mad anymore.”
He couldn’t help but snort at the response, “what? Just like that?”
“Just like that,” you smiled at him, it was small, tired, bruised, but still radiant thing. “You’ve said it wasn’t me, that you didn’t mean to, that you won’t do It again. We’ve been through enough together that for me that’s enough.”
And there was an uncomfortable truth in your statement. You had been through a lot together, most of his formative years, the loss of his dad, the loss of his suit, the discovery of who he is outside of that suit. Years you’ve spent together and you’ve taken that tenure as the basis for your trust in him, in your relationship. He couldn’t help but feel he didn’t deserve it.
Another silence fell as you appreciated the moment around you, as you sipped the beer in your hands, before he broke it hesitantly “I didn’t know who I was outside of the suit.”
“Rob you don’t have to-“ you cut him off.
“I know but can I…please.” You gave him a small nod at that, permission to continue, a promise to listen. He just hoped he made it worth your time. “It’s not just that my whole life revolved around the suit,” he explained, “Yes there was an element of having to figure out who I was as a person, of course there was, but I’ve also never felt so helpless before.”
You furrowed your brows at that, a soft hand coming up to squeeze his shoulder affectionately, he refused to let himself lean into it.
“I didn’t have the suit and I couldn’t save anyone. Hell, after waking up in the hospital I couldn’t even go to the bathroom by myself. I was nothing but a burden.”
“You’re never a burden Rob,” your rejection came swiftly and steadfast, he couldn’t help but smile at it.
“That’s how it felt at first,” he shrugged, “even before the accident, you had actual powers. It always felt like I was dragging you down, taking away bits and pieces as you charged my system, buffed me. After everything happened, I became so worried it would only get so much worse”
Your hand slowly slipped from his shoulder, and he forced himself not to focus on how cold the skin felt without it as you crossed your arms over your chest.
“You know I always felt like a leech on your back.” He was already opening his mouth to object when you sent him a look, a silent plea to let you continue. “You could take out whole swaths of people, could keep up with even the strongest, best I could do was give you a little extra juice from time to time.”
“But you know that’s not true,” he cut in on an almost plea, “now at least, you know it’s not.”
You snorted at him with a shake of your head, “do you know you’ve never been a burden on me?”
And he couldn’t help but hesitate, couldn’t help but have a million objections spring to mind, couldn’t help but disagree. He could see your point “touché”
You chuckled softly at that, relaxing slightly as your gaze cut back out to the parking lot full of people celebrating.
“We’re bad partners aren’t we,” he said it with a small smile of his own.
“We’re great partners,” you objected with a grin, “just maybe the friendship part could use some work.”
And he felt his smile dim at the reminder, felt himself tense up again, felt the familiar storm rising in his head as he debated what to do, what to say.
But it was like you had said, you’d both almost died today and he was done taking chances. “And if I wanted more?”
Your brow furrowed at the question, gaze cutting to him in confusion as he felt himself squirm on the spot.
“It was part of the reason I think I didn’t say anything for so long,” he admitted hesitantly. “We got along so well as Robert and Y/N and I realized that I liked being around you. That I liked the easy banter and the way you teased me and how genuinely kind you are and the way you basically adopted Waterboy the minute you met him and-“ he felt himself slowly teeter off as you stared blankly back at him, not moving a muscle as you simple watched him talk, eyes wide and almost void. He cleared his throat awkwardly as he fiddled with his hands. “I suspect it had been there all along but for so long my life was just being Mecha Man, only after I started to see more for myself outside of the suit did I realize.”
Still the look you gave him was mostly blank but as the silence settled, as his heart started to climb into his throat, did he finally see the small uptick in the corner of your mouth, the way your gaze softened, only then did a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding escape.
“It could ruin our partnership,” and it admittedly took him a second to put your words into context, to actually comprehend them, he couldn’t help but smile.
“Could make it better,” the uptick in your lips grew, he found himself shuffling forward.
“What would the team think?”
“I happen to know they’re rooting for it” he melted further, leaning more into your space with each moment.
“You ever lie to me again Robert Robertson-“
“I’ll swear to whatever deity you want,” he cut you off with a grin.
You hummed at that, pretended to debate it, but you couldn’t quite wipe the smile off of your face. “Where would our first date be?”
“Seems a little trivial to call it our first date considering-“ he cut himself off at your glare “We could make this a true partnership? Where do you want to go?”
You debated his question with a smile, “Couch shopping? Could make your apartment feel a little less like a federal agency’s safe house”
He rolled his eyes at your response but couldn’t keep himself from chuckling.
“If you’re lucky maybe even an accent chair. Oh or a TV.”
“Okay okay” he acquiesced easily, leaning in further “dinner after then?”
“It’s a date,” his heart swelled at the word.
He took a second to study your features, to note just how close he had gotten, just how far you had let him, before deciding to push it a little further, “can I kiss you now?”
“Before our first date? What kind of girl-“ He didn’t even let you finish the bit before he was pulling you into him, connecting your lips with his and melting into the feeling, relishing the way you molded into position so perfectly, your own arms coming up to wrap around his neck in response.
Only after breaking apart for air did the sounds of cheers register in his ears. He watched your face scrunch in embarrassment as the z-team started to descend around the two of you.
“Don’t look at them it’ll only encourage them,” he whispered conspiratorially to you, refusing to slacken his arms to let you escape.
“We can’t ignore them forever,” you responded in the whisper.
“If we quit right now-“ he hadn’t even gotten the whole sentence out before an arm was thrown around each of you and the all too familiar head of Flambe was pushing itself into your shared space with a grin.
“We are on company time right now we seriously need to have a talk about professionalism.” He was pushing away with a laugh before Flambe could even get the sentence out.
The rest of the team swarmed you with comments and questions of their own and he faded back happily as he watched you interact with them.
“It’s about time” Blazer’s voice made him jump slightly as she appeared from behind him, sipping a beer of her own as she joined him in watching you interact with the rest of the z-team, your smile growing wider than he’s ever seen it as the group cheered.
You weren’t sure why you had offered to take care of Robert’s apartment.
You were still angry with him, still wanted nothing to do with him, still wanted time and space to take a moment and figure everything out.
Instead, you were sitting in his kitchen, in his clothes, with his dog in your lap. Everything around you made you think of nothing but him to the point it was nearly suffocating.
But he had needed you, or rather needed someone, to take care of the everyday tasks. To take Beef out one last time, to lock up his apartment, to turn off the lights and make sure everything was secure while he delt with the emergency. So, you couldn’t bring yourself to regret speaking up.
Then there was that moment. Where you told him you had it and for once in his life Robert just listened. The look he gave you, that look that was so full of thankfulness, so full of hope and wonder, so irreverent, it almost shocked you. The way he looked at you made you feel like you were the solution to all his problems, like you were a being sent solely to save him. It had caught you so completely by surprise you didn’t question when his hand found the point where your neck met your shoulder, didn’t push back when he pulled you in, didn’t-
No. You weren’t going to focus on that now, weren’t going to spend any more mental energy on this man. You were going to take care of his dog, lock up his apartment, that was it.
Giving Beef a scratch behind the ears you set him on the ground and took a look around the sad apartment. Okay and maybe clean up a little bit, take out the trash.
You’d also slept in his bed for a bit so you should probably change the sheets and make it for him, that was only fair.
You eyed his cabinets suspiciously, if you made him soup would he actually eat it?
-
Coming into SDN the next morning was surprisingly daunting.
You hadn’t realized how much you had built up this moment in your head until now. But what were you supposed to do? What were you going to say?
You found that you didn’t really want to say anything, just wanted to get through this shift, just wanted to drop off Beef and leave, but wasn’t that rude? At this point did it matter?
You were so trapped in your own head you didn’t realize how far you’d gotten, that you were already up to his floor on the elevator. Beef wiggled happily in your arms.
Walking slower than usual, you made your way towards his desk, the thought not even occurring to you until now that he perhaps wasn’t even there, when a sudden loud crash from down the hall surprised you, the noise emanating from the break room.
You walked in hesitantly, almost afraid of what you would find, though to your surprise it wasn’t any of who you expected. None of the phoenix program members, not even just Robert, instead it was Waterboy, breathing heavy with a disdainful look at the vending machine, bits of glass littering the floor at his feet.
The poor kid’s eyes jumped to you as soon as you came in but to your surprise he didn’t shrink, didn’t even look regretful. “I’ll-“ he sighed trailing off slightly “I’ll clean that up”
Beef strained slightly in your arms at the sight of his owner, happy yelps coming from him as he tried to get down but you held on tight, refusing to let the fat chihuahua down with all this glass on the floor.
Switching your gaze from the menace in your arms up to Robert for the first time since you’d walked in you weren’t too surprised to find him already looking at you, frozen in place as Waterboy moved around him to sweep up glass.
“I can-uh- park him at your desk since there’s glass everywhere” You hated how awkward you sounded, how small. It’d never been like this with him, not as Mecha Man, not as Robert, it felt wrong, like a step back, one you didn’t have a choice but to make.
He stayed silent as he stared back at you, didn’t move a muscle until the end of Waterboy’s broom scraped alongside the edge of his shoe, the surprising movement knocking him out of whatever trance he had been in, sending him verbally stumbling “yeah that’d be-uh-that’d be great”
Giving him a tight-lipped smile you gestured vaguely to the duffle thrown over your shoulder “I didn’t know if you had more clothes here so I packed you extras” you admitted almost sheepishly, still trying to decide whether you regretted it or not “your keys are in here too.”
“Oh yeah let me just-” Again there was this uncomfortable air, this tension that threatened to choke you in the air as he stumbled across the room to you, taking the bag by the strap and carefully lifting it off your shoulder “Thank you, really, it means a lot.”
Another tight-lipped smile was all you could offer, a small nod thrown in as you didn’t trust yourself with words, couldn’t bear how naturally helping him had come to you despite everything, knowing that if he asked there was little you wouldn’t do for him.
“Y/N-“ but you couldn’t do that now. You couldn’t have that talk here, with Waterboy trying desperately not to impose, with Beef squirming in your arms, while the wound felt too fresh.
“Waterboy,” you cut him off desperately, turning your whole body away from him, willing yourself to ignore the crushed look that overtook his expression “Are you okay?”
Waterboy’s head shot up at being addressed, gaze whipping around the room as if to search for who else you could be talking to, hands tightening on the handle of the broom “me?”
You couldn’t help but chuckle at his expression, “yeah you, the guy who just threw a chair at the vending machine. Do you want to talk?” The question came out before you could realize how much it would probably sting. An unintentional slap in Robert’s face as you made a deliberate attempt to talk to someone else in order to avoid talking to him. Part of you told yourself he deserved it, that he could weather that storm for a little longer, another part of you felt guilty for piling more shit on his shoulders right now.
“uh-I-” the poor kid struggled to find the right answer as his gaze cut back to Robert, a silent question as to what he should do, clearly not wanting to come between whatever was going on between the two of you. You couldn’t help but feel bad for putting him in that position.
“We got a few minutes before the start of shift,” Robert cut in saving him, clearing his throat slightly as he projected his voice across the room again, reaching out to give Beef a scratch behind the ears “take a beat with the therapy dog and I’ll see you guys out there,” and then he was walking away, fleeing the room as quickly as possible.
You’d have to deal with that eventually, knew it couldn’t stay like this forever, that you didn’t want things to stay like this forever, but you just weren’t equipped to deal with it now.
“Are you okay?” Waterboy’s question was hesitant and quiet, coming from much closer than you remembered him being.
“No,” you answer came easily, honestly, painfully “not right now.”
“I’m sorry.”
You couldn’t help but smile at him at that, at feeling a little grateful for the man in this moment “Don’t be,” you shrugged it off with a friendly bump of your shoulder against his “come on let’s take Beef outside before shift.”
-
Shift today was hard.
You’d expected it to be hard of course, but it was completely different experiencing it.
Morale was low, worse than when you had first joined, worse than you had imagined it could ever be. The team was grieving a loss, the weight of Chase’s absence heavy on each members’ shoulders. The team was reeling from the sting of betrayal, a noticeable absence to the lineup without Invisigal. The team was struggling.
You learned quickly what you had missed last night, not that you already didn’t have a fairly clear picture of it from Robert, but you could see how much that plan had meant to them, how eager they had been to help Robert, how ready they all were to prove themselves, to him or themselves you weren’t sure, and Invisigal stole that from them.
She went behind their backs and Chase suffered the consequences and honestly you weren’t sure there was any coming back from that for her.
It was why you weren’t too surprised when Malevola planted a hand on your shoulder after shift and told you to follow her, why you went without question into the conference room with the rest of the team, why you knew immediately who was the topic of conversation before her name even got brought up.
You sat almost numbly as they argued, did nothing but listen as almost all agreed, didn’t even blink when Golem threw Punch-up through the glass window. It wasn’t until Robert burst through the door that you finally tuned in properly.
Or rather, almost properly, because even then you couldn’t focus on the actual words he said, just the way he said them. You’d never seen the man look so defeated, as Robert or as Mecha Man. He needed sleep, he needed a proper meal, he needed a break.
“What the actual fuck is going on!?” It was his exclamation that brought you back in, that brought your attention to the words being said.
“We want her out,” Malevola answered, no real reason to use her actual name, everyone knew who was being discussed.
“We voted. It was nearly unanimous,” Coupe chimed in.
It was Waterboy that brought it home “She should’ve done what she did,” You couldn’t help but be proud of the kid, of the spine he seemed to grow, of the way he stood up for his team “I think she should go sir…boss…Robert,” in his own way at least.
“Who wants her to stay?” You couldn’t help but see how hopeful he almost looked, how he seemed to almost plead for someone to speak up.
“Just me,” Golem sounded “But the team is more important than any one of us, so I won’t stand in the way.”
“I feel the same way as Golem,” Flambe shrugged non-comitally. “You all let me back in when you didn’t have to. But I won’t make you keep someone you want gone.”
Robert sighed softly at his words, his gaze almost naturally coming to you next, a silent question in his eyes, almost as if he was waiting for you to answer as well.
“I don’t think I get a say,” Eight pairs of eyes were on you immediately, each in a different state of shock or confusion that had you scrambling to explain, “I wasn’t there for any of it. I didn’t know about any of it until completely after the fact. It wasn’t my decision she undermined, wasn’t me she betrayed, so I don’t think I get a say in this.”
“But you’re part of this team,” You’re not sure you could put into words how warm Coupe’s comment made you feel, how your chest swelled as the rest of them all nodded along and looked at you eagerly.
“I am so proud of you all,” The words came out of you with no hinderance, no second thought, no caveat, just honesty. “Not just for getting together to help Robert with the astral pulse, but for this moment. For putting aside selfish desire and instead coming together to act like a team, to put the wellbeing of that team above anything else. So, I’m not going to stand in your way, if you think dropping Invisigal is the right move then I trust you.”
A hush fell over the room, a small moment of silence as your words were digested, before Prism broke it, “we heard about the suspension bullshit but it ain’t enough Robert. Not after what she did. To put everything we been building at risk. And for what?”
And admittedly, a part of you agreed, could see where they were coming from, could see why they were hurt.
“I like the bitch but she’s got to go”
“And by go we mean cut,” Malevola backed her up “Just like you did Sonar. No one here wants to say it’s us or her…but that’s what it is.”
Robert took a second to think, to collect himself, before he spoke “Look, I probably don’t say this enough but I’m proud of all of you, how far you’ve come,” And you watched Robert Robertson take shape before you.
You’d called him the peptalk man before and in this moment, you could see him become exactly that as he plead Invisigal’s case for her. As he talked about lifting people up when they were down, about coming together and healing.
Robert Robertson was a man who was always there for others, you supposed he had that in common with Mecha Man.
The Z-team clearly didn’t completely resonate with his decision, you could still see the hurt in their eyes, but even if she had been kicked this wouldn’t be a happy moment. It was a tough decision, especially considering who got hurt because of her. You couldn’t help but be a little proud of him for making it.
In the newfound silence left in the wake of Robert’s speech the door moved of its own accord. The signal of an invisible woman who’d been there all along.
You can’t imagine how hard that would be.
Slowly the room started to empty, the z-team passing by Robert on their way out. You tried to muster up a smile for him on your way, tried to extend a small kindness. He caught your arm on your way by, holding you back till it was just you and him in the room.
“Can we talk?” It was exactly the words you had expected him to say but you couldn’t help but sigh at the sound of them. At how defeated they sounded, how empty.
“Are you sure you want to right now?” You’d tried to keep your tone light, to soften the blow, to present this small kindness but from the clench of his jaw you could see they had the opposite effect.
“Look I’m trying here-“
“No that’s not-” you cut him off before he could get too far. “That’s not how I mean it. I just mean you’re going through a lot right now we don’t need to throw this on top of it too. It can wait.”
He eyed you suspiciously at that, one brow raised as his gaze racked your expression. “You’re saying what then? This isn’t important enough to deal with right now? You want to just go on pretending like this is normal? This is fine?”
“Why are you making me out to be the bad guy right now?” The words left on a near whisper, genuine confusion and hurt sinking into your tone. “I’m trying to be nice here and give you time to focus on Chase instead of dealing with whatever we are-”
“And what are we!” The question came out in a frustrated yell, hands coming up to the bridge of his nose seconds later in an attempt to rain it in “I can’t-I can’t do this right now it’s too much with Chase, with Invisigal, with the suit…it’s too much.”
Before you could talk yourself out of it you were stalking across the room and planting one hand on Robert’s chest, sending a shot of electricity high enough to have him jumping back in shock. His back hit the wall of the narrow conference room as he tried to get away leaving you space to crowd him against it, looming over him without touching as you glared. “Let’s get one thing fucking straight here I’m not some issue you just get to take off your plate,” his eyes had gone wide as he stared at you, mouth slightly agape as he froze on the spot. “I am furious with you right now and a two minute apology in a conference room is not enough to just smooth that over so if you ever want to go back to the way things were we need to have a real conversation and quite frankly I don’t want to deal with you right now so we will have it later when you’re in the right headspace to actually deal with your own emotions. Got it?”
He nodded furiously, quick enough you almost doubted he was actually listening to you. But still you eased off, took enough steps back to give him space to get off the wall, to ground himself.
“Good,” it came out softer than you had intended, more broken then you had meant to let slip. You started to turn away when a hand reached out to grasp your wrist, halting you in place.
“Y/N wait,” Your gaze spun back around to meet Robert’s and you could see the pain in his eyes, the regret in his expression “I’m sorry.”
“Robert-” you sighed as you tried to wrench yourself free but he held on.
“No not like-“ he cut himself off with a small sigh, letting go of you but raising his hands as if to placate you, a silent plea for you to stay. You weren’t sure if you should listen. “I don’t mean it like that I mean it like you’re right. I’m overwhelmed and angry and sad and I took it out on you”
Hesitantly you turned more fully to face him once again, a silent ask for him to continue.
“It’s just you’re my person you know? You’re the one I would go to when I felt like this and it’s killing me that I can’t this time.”
“That’s not my-“
“I know that’s my fault,” he cut you off with an apologetic look. “I fucked up. I keep fucking up, but you deserve better and I’m going to try and be better”
You eyed him skeptically but you could feel the sincerity in him, in his promise, god you hoped he meant it. “I don’t hate you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” his brow furrowed slightly at your comment. “Just if you’re waiting for me to blow up and punch you before storming out that’s not what I want.”
“What do you want?” His question came quickly, eagerly.
You shrugged with a sardonic laugh, making a desperate wipe at your eyes as you felt your throat grow uncomfortably tight. “To know why? To know you won’t do it again? To know what you want from me? I don’t know I just-“ you sighed loudly, forcing yourself to take a deep breath, to slow down, to hold it in. “I just want to understand.”
He nodded in response, hands going into his pockets as he thought. “I can’t promise I have satisfying answers, but they’re yours.”
“I just need them to be honest.”
He smiled slightly at that, finally making eye contact with you once again, a small nod passing between the two of you in understanding. “I’m sorry about Chase, Mechy”
He chuckled unexpectedly at the nickname, a small shake in his head as he did so “I can honestly say you were his favorite member of the z-team.”
You laughed appreciatively back at that. “With a bar that low it’s hard not to feel accomplished.”
He chuckled back at your sarcasm lightly, but it died down quickly, the air too thick to be lightened that easily. “Thank you, by the way, for taking care of my place, and Beef.”
“Of course,” you brushed him off easily. “I’m always there if you need me.”
“Yeah,” he sighed with a soft smile. “Yeah you are.”
A silence fell over the two of you at that, not quite comfortable but far from suffocating, you supposed you’d take that for now. Making your way to the door you were stopped by another call of your name, gaze whipping around to see an almost small looking Robert back where you had left him. “We’ll talk later then yeah?”
“Yeah Rob,” you assured him with a smile. “We’ll talk later”
-
You went home that night not thinking much about what would happen next. Rather trying to desperately avoid thinking about what would happen next.
Unfortunately you were inclined to agree with Robert that it was a lot, Chase was down with no clear knowledge on how to get him back, Invisigal was still on the team, the team’s own personal feelings on that matter aside, and you and Robert were…you and Robert.
It was a bag you didn’t even want to open.
So when you went home that night you had no real plans other than a strong drink and something to distract you. You figured you’d earned at least that much.
A single call from Blonde Blazer, however, changed all of that.
Robert was in trouble, and truthfully that was all you needed to don your suit once more. The mention of Shroud’s name was just icing on the cake.
That was how you found yourself stationed outside the same bar you had been in with the z-team just a few days ago, waiting just beyond the doorway with Blazer, waiting for some queue, some slip up. Waiting to go in and rescue Rob.
“Invisibitch has the Pulse. That I know….” You locked eyes with Blazer on the other side of the doorway, a furrow in both of your brows as the unspoken question passed between you at Shroud’s words. “What I don’t know is why she didn’t give it to you.”
With bated breath you listened to Shroud work it out, fighting down the way your blood boiled, the way you wanted to storm in without a plan. You felt your fingernails dig into the skin on the palms of your hand.
“Here I am thinking she’s working with you, but she’s fucking us both. She didn’t take it for you, she took it for herself,” You heard the slight creak as Shroud knelt down to Robert’s level. “It’s okay, she fooled me too.”
And you hated how soft his voice got, how rational he tried to paint himself, how human. He tried to elevate himself above the average criminal, act as if he were more virtuous, more moral, more rational just because he felt he could justify his actions. It made you sick.
A pause from the room stretched just a bit too long giving you your opening. With a nod at Blazer she motioned for you to stay put as she got ready to kick the door in. She had the flashy powers after all. If anyone could talk down the group in there it sure as hell wasn’t you.
Without even a grunt she sent the door flying off its hinges, she gave a moment for the effect to sink in before slowly making her way in, shoulders set back and wide. You had to admit, girl knew how to make an entrance.
“The Blonde Blazer, I fired the bartender, but I can still get you something to drink.” Shroud was quick to greet her and you couldn’t help but note how high he seemed to hold her, how much respect he poured into his voice as he spoke, it seems that Blazer had herself an admirer.
“No thank you” Blazer shut him down sternly but still politely, the entire interaction setting you on edge.
“Then to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I’m here for him”
Shroud hummed lowly in response, giving the words a few moments to settle in the air before responding, “Perhaps you would like to invite Electrix in as well, make this a proper reunion.”
And despite the sound of your hero name through Shroud’s mask setting the hairs on the back of your neck at attention you fought it down, putting on your best grim expression before making your way inside, planting yourself just behind Blazer, ignoring the sneers sent your way by the rest of the red ring.
“It’s good to see you again Electrix.” Shroud bowed slightly at your appearance making you grimace.
“I wish I could say the same.” He seemed almost amused by the response.
“In five minutes this bar will be surrounded by SDN agents, heroes, and whoever else your Ring have pissed off recently,” Blazer brought the attention back to her, an edge in her voice you’d never heard before that made you wonder why SDN ever put her behind a desk. “Which happens to be every gang in Los Angeles. Now if-“
Suddenly a raspberry being blown from behind Shroud cut her off, an all too familiar voice calling out “bullshit” only making you clench your jaw harder as you met Sonar’s gaze. The bar around him started to chuckle making a smug smirk grow on his expression before a rough slap in the face cut everyone off, shroud looming over Sonar menacingly as his voice dropped, “do not disrespect one of the last true heroes.”
Dropping his gaze Sonar slunk back into the shadows in response.
“Sorry about that. If they weren’t shit you wouldn’t’ve cut them,” The dynamics in the room threw you off slightly. “You were saying?”
Blazer to her credit never bat an eye, same grim expression on her face as she slowly surveyed the room. “I can see we’re out numbered. That eventually we would fall. But by my read-“ she paused for effect, a slow blink of her eyes revealing glowing yellow orbs as she lifted off the ground just slightly, “I’m taking a lot of you with me”
Having nothing nearly as showy as that, you still tried to look intimidating, squaring up and letting a few yellow currents of electricity dance over your knuckles.
“So all of you can leave now,” Blazer projected her voice out to the whole room as she made two fists, “or half of you can die here.”
The room around her sent apprehensive looks to one another, clearly trying to sus out what the plan was, before Shroud suddenly burst into applause. Loud, deep claps filling the otherwise silent room around you. “Now that’s a fuckin’ superhero. Chills. Top notch” You had to admit you agreed. “You made them nervous” His gaze suddenly cut to you, “you should take notes.”
Setting your jaw you tried to show that he wasn’t getting to you, to act as if this were exactly how you expected things would go. You weren’t sure how successful you were.
“Okay, we’re out of here,” Shroud addressed the two of you more than the room around him before projecting his voice, “take your piss soaked pants out the back please. Don’t want to tempt this tiger.”
The Ring around him slowly filed out, Sonar staying at the edges as Shroud bowed slightly again to Blazer “Now’s not our time Blazer. But it’s coming sooner than you think.” Finally he turned his back, starting to make his way out of the bar as well before turning to look over his shoulder, “Oh, and by my calculations it was closer to 32%. Call it 40 with Electrix.
“ He nodded to you like he was doing you a favor. “But half sounds better.”
Finally, he disappeared out the back, Sonar following after him like a lapdog, though you and Blazer stayed in your positions until they fully disappeared. Waiting until the door sounded as it closed behind them before breaking into your respective roles.
You broke for Robert immediately, picking up half his body beneath his arms to try and right his position as Blazer broke the chain, catching his legs before they could slam into the ground as the two of you worked together to carefully lower him to the floor.
“You saved me…again.“ Robert’s voice left him roughly as he winced, gaze on Blazer as she untied his legs as he leaned back against your chest.
“Yeah, you should really sign up for this SDN service I keep hearing about.” You couldn’t help but snort at Blazer’s response even as you felt Robert tense with every small movement against you.
Groaning softly, he shifted to try and sit up straighter, only managing some small movement before he was more fully against you, head laid against your shoulder as his gaze cut to yours, chest heaving with heavy breaths as he said nothing for a moment, just looked. “Thank you.”
You couldn’t help but smile even as you watched blood flow slowly from the million tiny cuts littered all over his body.
“Let’s get out of here.” Blazer finally rid Robert of the chain around his ankles, hands coming under the man’s knees and around his lower back lifting Robert off you as if he weighed nothing.
“Holy shit,” the curse left you without any real thought behind it, watching as Blazer chuckled at your stunned expression while Robert’s told you this was nothing new to him.
“Hop on,” she offered with a small nod of her head, signaling for you to get on her back.
“Oh no that’s okay you don’t-“
“It’s way easier if you just let her,” Robert cut you off with a small huff that made him cough, putting you in no position to argue as you wrapped your arms around Blazer’s neck and jumped onto her back, the blonde woman giving you no time to prepare before she was shooting off in the air, Robert in her arms and you clinging desperately to her back.
-
Carefully lifting half of the blue shirt, you waited patiently for Robert to slip his arm into it, watching intently each time his face scrunched up in pain through the movement.
“He really tenderized you,” Blonde Blazer to Roberts right noted aloud as she watched as well with a frown before her gaze cut to you, “any chance you know some first aid?”
You snorted at that with a shake of your head, watching the edges of Robert’s lips lift as well at the question. “Absolutely not, but if you ever need to shock a heart I’m you’re gal”
Blazer hummed amusedly at that as Robert groaned, “we are never doing that again.”
“Oh come on, it was one time,” you rolled your eyes as you finally dropped your hold on his shirt, letting him work to button it himself.
“One time when my heart was still beating.” And even though the comment was pointed you could see the smile on his face as he said it.
“How was I supposed to know that?”
“I was still breathing,” He shot back, “All you had to do was check that.”
“You weren’t moving,” You defended yourself with a laugh, “and you certainly were after I saved your life.”
“Please if anything you endangered it.” Blazer watched the two of you go back and forth with a smile on her face.
With a few more grunts Robert pushed himself back up against the billboard behind him, you and Blazer finally content enough with his wellbeing to do so as well, all your gazes cast out at the Hollywood sign before you.
It was Blazer who broke the silence, “are you sure he’s right about Invisigal?”
Robert’s frown deepened. “Yeah I saw the footage.”
“What is her play? Why wouldn’t she tell you if she has it?”
“She’s planning something…just don’t know what,” and even if the answer was unsatisfactory you could see Robert’s belief in it, though small and hesitant as it was it was still there.
“I don’t see the angle.”
“She’s been trying hard to be better,” you broke in softly, “even if she hasn’t always gotten it right she’s been grappling with real preconceived notions of who she is and what it means to be a hero. That’s not something you do just to con someone at the last second.”
“So what we just trust she does the right thing?” Blazer’s question was a fair one, one you didn’t have an answer for.
“For now I just need to sit here for like…a few weeks,” Robert broke in with heavy breaths “then I’ll be right as rain.”
And in that moment you couldn’t help but see so much of Mecha Man in him. Someone so eager to brush off a serious moment with a tension cutting joke, someone who’s willing to look deep into who someone is rather than the façade they displayed to the world, someone with a dogged determination to keep going no matter what.
For the first time the comparison didn’t dig a hole in your chest.
“Take your time. I don’t know how you’re conscious.” You couldn’t help but snort at Blazer’s comment.
From the corner of your eye you watched Robert open his mouth to respond, another self-deprecating joke on his tongue, when an explosion suddenly rocked the billboard you were sitting on, a bright red light illuminating the skyline to the east.
Blazer was the first to react, flying up above the billboard to get a better look as you stood up, Robert’s hand almost reflexively going to your ankle to steady you as more explosions sounded, this time to the south.
The north sounded next, more and more fires across the city appearing from all over as bombs went off, emergency sirens sounding in every direction. The hold on your leg tightened as Robert’s other hand went to the billboard to try and push himself up, you immediately bent to help him.
From above you for the first time ever you watched Blonde Blazers face break, watched a bit of panic seep in, watched the devastation slowly consume her expression, until Robert broke her out of it, “Hey!”
Her gaze snapped to him as he leaned heavily into your side, extending one hand up to her. “You’re not leaving me here again”
You watched her expression seem to calm slightly at the sight of him, at the reminder that there were people on her side, that there would be a whole group trying to make this right just as hard as she was going to.
“Also I could use a trip down too.” She chuckled slightly at your comment before coming down to your level, an arm going softly around each of you as she lowered the three of you to the ground.
“Get back to SDN do what you can, I’ll round up as many as I can find and meet you there.” Your feet had barely touched the ground before she was blasting off again, leaving you and Robert in her wake on the sidewalk as she shot off across the city.
“Are you sure you’re okay to go back to work?” You asked him hesitantly as he peeled himself off you, shifting weight from foot to foot to adjust to standing, trying to minimize his grimaces as much as possible.
“I’m good,” he assured you without hesitation, “just need to sit behind a desk anyways”
“If you say so,” the words left you unconvincingly as you watched him stand and try to keep his posture as straight as possible.
You could feel the tension in the air physically. An awkwardness hanging between the two of you now that you were alone as Robert fought not to meet your eye, a hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck as he struggled to force out words “Look I-“
Before he could go on any further you broke in, leaning in and wrapping your arms around his shoulders before he could get any words out, pulling him into you so quickly you felt him tense up at first.
Before you could think twice about the hug, however, he melted into you, wrapping his arms around your waist in response even as a small grunt left him.
“Shit you’re hurt,” you hadn’t even thought of how squeezing him would feel on his bruises as you dropped your hold on him and tried to step back, Robert’s own hold on you only tightening in response.
“No it’s okay,” he assured you softly, not moving his arms, giving you no other choice than to wrap yours back around him, nestling your head into the crook of his neck.
“Thank you,” he practically whispered.
“Of course Rob,” your response came easily, giving the hug a few seconds before slowly lifting from it, only managing to get a step back before Robert’s hands on your arms were stopping you, keeping you close enough your nose nearly touched his.
Looking at him questioningly Robert offered no explanation at first, not saying anything as his gaze studied your features for a few seconds, eyes dancing around before finally settling on your own, “I am sorry for the record. For all of it.”
You couldn’t help but huff slightly, the corners of your lips tilting up as your gaze jumped from one eye to the other. “Apologizing while you’re still actively bleeding. Dirty move.”
“Gotta use what I can,” he shrugged as the corners of his lips tilted up as well, giving your arms one more small squeeze and letting go, taking a small step back just to leave your breathing room.
“I’ll head downtown,” you signaled behind you with your thumb, already on the balls of your feet ready to take off before Robert stopped you.
“Shouldn’t you head back to SDN with me first?” he furrowed his brow, signaling back behind him in response.
“Seems like it’s where they’ll need the most help,” you shrugged, already taking a step back in that direction even as Robert frowned at you.
“You should at least wait till there’s someone from the team to go with you”
“Feels like an all hands on deck kind of situation,” and despite everything you couldn’t help but smile softly at the concern. “Send someone my way when you get there will you Mr. Dispatcher?”
“Fine just,” he sighed, eyes jumping to the burning skyline behind you, “be careful will you?”
“Always am,” your answer came out reflexively and with a wink as you broke out into a full sprint before he could comment back.
And it wasn’t a full fix, there was still a lot to talk about, a lot to deal with, but for right now it felt good, a much better place to put a pin in whatever you and Robert had.
Tagging @a-wild-fetus @luluxx18 @xxevil-pleasurexx and @ohnogovno because they asked I hope you all enjoy!! Thank you!
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5
He should’ve told you sooner.
And honestly why stop there.
He should’ve answered your phone calls after the accident. Should’ve told you when he got out of the hospital. He should have done more.
He shouldn’t have let his desire for revenge drive him as far as it did. He shouldn’t have pushed you as hard as he did. He shouldn’t have continued after Shroud after you left.
He should’ve, should’ve, should’ve.
He’d long since noticed the way the regrets piled up, the weight of the guilt that sat on his chest, he thought he’d learn to live with it.
Yesterday though, yesterday was the final nail in the coffin.
And truly he isn’t sure what his endgame was. Fix the suit first then tell you? As if that would’ve gone over any better. But to say that he had a plan at all would imply some sort of forethought, some plan to lie to you from the beginning, but it had all happened by accident, something he fell into, the problem of telling you the truth became a can he kicked down the road so he could continue to ignore it. Maybe that was worse.
Casting a feint glow around the small space Royd’s latest prototype for the Astro pulse sat in his hands and for some reason it felt different this time.
In every test before there was always this idea that if it worked things could go back to normal, back to the way they were. He could go back to being a hero, could apologize to you as Mecha Man, could go back to doing what he was meant to do.
But now? The secret was out. In tearing down that last wall he tethered himself fully to his team, they became people he couldn’t just leave behind, SDN became more than just a job he got temporarily to pass the time.
He didn’t know what life looked like on the other side of this test, and that scared him.
Looking at the screen before him he saw through the cameras on his mech the z-team back with Royd awaiting the results, everyone but you and Flambe.
Neither of you had shown up to work today, you had apparently called out with Blazer for the both of you, he wasn’t sure how to feel about the gathering of the Robert Robertson hate club occurring somewhere out there. He supposed it was nice you at least had someone.
“Hey everybody, I, um, I appreciate you coming to see this” He addressed the z-team present as he started up the suit “Your support means a lot”
“More than a lot” Punch-up called back “it means nine hundred and thirty-six American dollars cash lad”
He wondered who you bet on, who you thought he was, if there was even a part of you that knew.
“We’re only here cause these broke asses want proof before they pay” He chuckled softly from inside the suit at Prism.
“That actually makes way more sense.”
“Can’t believe you actually hung out with these fuckers…” Despite being in his 30s Chase fit the role of crochety old man a little too well.
“Well what you missed last night was three A.M. tacos leading to four A.M. heartburn followed by 5 A.M. diarrhea… and despite all that it was lovely” he shot back with a small smile.
“He’s leaving out the attempted murder and lovers spat on top of that” Malevola helpful as ever chimed in.
“mmm the exposing of secrets that should’ve stopped being secret years ago will do that” He chose to ignore the pointed glare Chase threw his way at that.
“Ooooohkay. Proto Pulse test nineteen ready to commence.” Royd chimed in perfectly on time brining the group back to business “We good when you good Mecha Man”
Taking a second to himself Robert studied the prototype. Prototype nineteen. Nineteen bitter failures before this one and no clue what was going to happen after. Only one way to find out he supposed “Engaging Proto Pulse now.”
He tried not to get his hopes up as the dash lit up, tried to tamp them as Royd announced that the readings he was getting were all stable, tried to contain them as he prepped to launch.
But as soon as he suit around him actually moved, all bets were off.
Relief surged through him as he started to shadow box on the spot, the familiarity of the movement flooding through him as he showed off a little for his team.
The feedback was all the same, the resistance to his movements almost not even there, it was smooth, it was reliable, it was his suit. Finally.
“The smoke is a little overkill” Invisigal spoke with what almost sounded like concern.
“I thought so too but I think the purple is a nice touch” he couldn’t have hid the small smile on his face if he had tried as he ran the suit through jumping jacks, through any movement he could think of.
“What smoke?” Royd sounded confused as he finally drew his eyes away from the computer in front of him “SHUT IT DOWN”
Royd had barely gotten the command out before warning alarms were going off in front of him. Bright red alerts filling the cabin space as the entire suit started to shake slightly, smoke making it’s way into the enclosed space.
The prototype above his head shot sparks out from its container as every screen yelled at him, the suit jerking wildly beneath him despite a lack of inputs. Coughing as he struggled to breathe around the smoke Robert tried the eject button above him to no avail, the thing clicking uselslly as the suit continued to deteriorate around him.
The sparks spread to the dashboard in front of him as everything started to get hot, the suit seizing suddenly around him.
There was only one way this would end.
-
Coming to in a hospital unfortunately wasn’t a new experience for Robert.
Coming to with an audience, however, he’d admit was a bit of a welcome change.
Beef, forever his companion, sat happily on his lap, glad to see his owner was okay and receive whatever attention he could get while Royd sat dejectedly in the corner, arm in a sling and offering little more than a sad, tight-lipped smile in greeting before Chase broke the silence.
“Welcome back”
“How long was I out?” it was Royd who jumped in to answer his question.
“Bout 14, 15 hours I think” longer than he had hoped then.
“You okay Royd?” He asked the large man as he pushed himself up to sitting position “why do you look worse than me?”
Royd let out a long sigh in response, taking a moment to collect himself as his gaze fell to the floor at his feet “it’s ovah, bruddah. I cannot recreate da astral pulse. Too much power, too small size. I’m not good enough, bro. Fail you. Fail everybody.”
It was moments like this he could understand what you had said about him. What you had told him before you knew who he was. He was the pep talk guy. He may be lying bruised in a hospital bed, with his last chance of being who he once was slipping through his fingertips, but he could be the pep talk guy.
“Hey listen…you might not believe in yourself right now, but I believe in you Royd.”
“This not a little league game, braddah. This real life” and despite the rejection he was still glad to see a small smile on Royd’s face as he stood. A small acknowledgment that he appreciated the gesture at least.
“Royd,” he tried again, calling on his friend to stop in front of his bed “you did your best. I can’t ask for anything else. Thank you.”
Again offering little more than a tight-lipped smile Royd let his head drop and left the room, leaving the three of them to watch him go before Chase broke the silence.
“Yeah that wasn’t your best work.”
“What too cheesy?” He asked with a small chuckle, doing his best to ignore the small twinge it sent through his ribs as he did so.
“You don’t believe in you but I do” Chase mocked him with a small smirk “straight from an after school special if you ask me”
“After school special are you sure you’re not actually 80?” he’d barely gotten the words out before Chase was aiming a punch at his side, an admittedly light one for the old man but still one he found himself wincing slightly. Despite that though he couldn’t help but break out into laughter, his sides aching as he shook with it, glad to see the expression mirror itself on the old man’s face as well.
Letting the moment come to a natural end Chase turned his attention onto the dog at Robert’s feet as his laughter died down, giving the Chihuahua a scratch behind the ears “you know you’re girlfriend was here earlier”
“She’s not-“ the denial was already halfway out of his mouth before his brain caught up with what had just been said, eyes snapping up to meet Chase’s in surprise who was looking much too gleeful for his liking “she was here?”
“Showed up shortly after the doctors cleared you” he affirmed with a smile “called you a bunch of names I personally am not comfortable repeating”
He snorted softly at that “yeah that sounds like her”
“She wanted to make sure she left before you woke up”
“Yeah that-“ he cut himself off as his smile dimmed at the reminder “yeah”
Chase took a moment to study him, to parse his expression, before continuing “you ever going to tell me what’s going on between you two”
“What’s there to say” he shrugged as he leaned back against the pillows “I got caught lying end of story”
“Doesn’t tell me why you lied in the first place” Chase pointed out with a frown “why you never told her then and sure as shit doesn’t tell me why you didn’t tell her the moment you found out you were her dispatcher”
Again he shrugged, starting to cross his arms over his chest before realizing how defensive that’d make him look “timing never felt right I don’t know what to say Chase”
“Really” he cocked a brow at Robert “you need me to give you a lecture on wasting time”
And he couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at the irony “you’re right, we wouldn’t want to get too…what did you call it?...after school special-y”
With a tsk of his tongue Chase rolled his eyes but he could see the tips of his lips perk up under the mustache, the older man again turning his attention to Beef instead before speaking again softly “be careful with that one. She cares about you,”
And maybe one time that was true. Maybe once he deserved it. He wasn’t sure about now. “Yeah”
Taking a moment Robert readied himself with a deep breath before pushing himself up to his feet, bouncing softly from foot to foot to gain balance before ripping the leads off his chest as Chase objected “no come on kid take the day off”
“no really I’m fine” Robert assured him even if his body screamed differently “All I’ve got to do is sit at a desk”
“She isn’t even here today” sometimes he hated how Chase could read him like a book.
“Good” he hummed, grabbing his shirt off the table and throwing it over his head “she deserves the day”
“She knows when to give herself a break” Chase cut in, crossing his arms over his chest “something someone else I know could stand to do”
Ignoring Chase with a cheeky wink he adjusted the shirt and whistled to Beef, waiting for the fat Chihuahua to jump off the bed and scamper after him as he made his way to the door.
“Robert” Chase called out to him “don’t fuck this up”
“Not my first dispatch shift I think I’ll be fine”
This time it was Chase’s turn to ignore him, sending the younger man a pointed glare as he continued “she showed up. That’s not nothing”
And God he hoped Chase was right.
-
“I mean I know I owe her an apology. Trust me I get that” Robert mused allowed to the ceiling, one hand wrapped around the neck of a bottle of bourbon, the other rested underneath him to prop of his head up as he spoke “but I mean was it that big of a deal. Not like I outright lied I just didn’t tell her the truth”
Looking over at his audience he came face to face with Beef lying beside him, the chihuahua’s head tilted to the side slightly as he judged.
“Okay fine yes it was that big of a deal I just-” he sighed as he sat up slightly to take a swig, eyes going back up to the ceiling as he spoke “I was supposed to die in that suit. That was the way it was supposed to end, that was the way it was always going to end” He wasn’t sure whether or not he felt better saying the words aloud, if finally giving voice to the thoughts he kept buried within him had any real effect. “And there’s no point in introducing her to the man outside of the suit if he never really existed, if he was never meant to exist”
Breaking to gauge the thoughts of his audience Beef stared blankly back at him, his tongue poking out of his mouth enough to cover his entire nose.
“Then the suit was gone and I had to be Robert Robertson but that was all supposed to be temporary. I’d get the suit fixed and things would go back to the way they were and everything would be fine” Still he continued, still he questioned how much he believed what he said out loud.
“Now the suit is gone and I guess I have to figure out who Robert Robertson is without Mecha Man.”
Beef offered a bark in response.
“You’re right and I have to apologize. But how do I even go about doing that? I’m sorry I pretended not to know you for weeks even though we worked alongside for a decade?”
Another bark.
“See exactly that’s what I’m saying I can’t just-“
A third bark interrupted him and only then did he turn his gaze to Beef to see the dog not even looking at him, his gaze instead directed to the front door, Robert’s position from the floor allowing him to see the shadows a pair of legs cast from underneath it.
“What-“ He’d barely gotten the question out before a glowing red portal grew in front of his door and a familiar half demon stepped through with a smirk. Invisigal followed shortly after with her eyes shielded and Royd brought up the rear, looming over the both of them, a glass chandelier hanging precariously from Malevola’s tail as she surveyed the apartment.
“Definitely a house that needs some warmth”
“Yeah, I tell him dat the last time I came” Royd offered helpfully “somehow it’s worse”
“Why’re you- what is this- what?” maybe he could blame the bourbon for his complete inability to string a sentence together but he knew that wasn’t entirely the case.
“It’s a housewarming gift, for your housewarming party, Robert” Invisigal spat his name like it was an insult, as if the question were redundant. “I told people to bring a lamp or something”
“Wait people? Like more people are coming to my home?” And maybe that question was redundant, this was invisigal he was talking about “look I’m not really in a party mood so if you could just-“
“Why too busy moping because you lied to your girlfriend for weeks about who you were after not telling her your identity for nearly a decade” Invisigal’s sentence came out in one rushed breath, a knowing smirk on her face as she crossed her arms over his chest and popped a hip.
“And just how long have you had that one locked and loaded?”
“Day one baby” she winked gleefully at him as Royd set up a work computer on the counter behind her “but don’t worry I wrote the other ones I have down so I wouldn’t forget.”
“We figured it out bruddah” Thankfully Royd cut in to save him, pressing a button on top of the projector on the computer to display a map on the wall “we can make the man mecha again”
“After your little premature ejacusplosion I had this feeling like I’d seen it before” Invisigal cut in, switching to a more serious tone as she made her way in front of the projector.
“Then Visi asked me to do an energy reading scanning and cross reference with recent calls”
“Wait wait wait” Robert jumped in as he slowly started to connect the dots “the Astro pulse? It’s not destroyed?”
“Nope” Invisigal answered with a smirk, nodding at a glowing point on the map as a video feed popped up “and a bunch of B grade villians have been trying to unlock its power only to end up blowing their asses off like you did. Then they sell it to the next sucker and same shit”
Fascinated Robert watched as a trail of dots emerged on the map, a network of sales of his astro pulse between villains across the city all culminating in one final glowing dot at the docks.
“The z-teamers know every low level supervillain in the three counties. We track its location, they’ll know who has it. Then we kick in some doors, knock in some heads, snatch that shit back and you’ll be pulsin’ or whatever in no time”
It was a half-hazard plan, reliant on information that can be obtained in less than reliable ways from a bunch of villians, thrown together last minute after hours in the secret of his home. It was so quintessentially z-team it almost hurt.
“Regardless of how this plays out… thank you. Both of you” a disbelieving chuckle left him as he eyed the map again, looking between Invisigal and Royd with a smile he couldn’t have wiped off his face if he had tried “I’m just you know. I can’t remember the last time someone did something so-“ he couldn’t get through the whole sentence before he was cut off by a sharp bunch to his ribs, the hit causing him to double over as frustrated words spilled out of him “what is wrong with you”
“Just-get gushy after we find the shit” Invisigal grunted with crossed arms, refusing to make eye contact.
So quintessentially z-team. It was perfect.
-
Looking around at the aftermath of the impromptu party that was held at his place the first things that stood out to him was all of the work that needed to be done. Bottles to be picked up, trash thrown away, furniture moved back, and Beef still needed to go out. It was a lot more work than he had originally planned to do when he left work.
But as a change of pace he didn’t feel tired, didn’t feel overwhelmed, didn’t lement the work. He felt calm, hopefully, dare he say happy.
There was a lot about keeping his identity a secret he regretted, most of it had to do with you but he’s not sure he could totally regret telling the z-team. Finally it seemed to put them in his corner, his newly illuminated apartment stood as a testament to that.
A knock at his door shook him from his thoughts and best he could do was hope Flambe wasn’t back to get his other side.
Not even bothering to check through the peep hole he opened the door and froze on the spot. The sight of you shorting through every thought that ran through his head in an instant.
“Y/N” your name left his lips an exhale, more an involuntary response than a greeting.
You sighed loudly as you eyed him, arms crossed defensively over your chest as you glared at him through the doorway “look I-“ You cut yourself off quickly, eyes narrowing slightly as they zeroed in on his face.
Before he could react your hand came out and seized his chin, turning his face to angle his left eye at you better, Rober went without hesitation.
“Shit did Flambe get here first”
It was only then, when you leaned in closer that he smelled it, the alcohol on your breath, the way you swayed slightly on your feet, the way you invaded his space without hesitation. You were drunk.
“I’ve got another eye if you want to make them a matching set” the words came out of his mouth without any real thought behind them as he instead just focused on your presence, on the fact that you were here, that you were okay, relatively speaking.
You narrowed your eyes at him, studying him for a moment. He let the silence surround you, let you lead whatever conversation you wanted to have.
“Jesus I really am oblivious aren’t I” a sardonic laugh left you.
“Wait-“
“I mean god it’s all right there in the voice, the eyes, the dumb dry humor”
“Dumb feels a little harsh” it was like he couldn’t help himself, couldn’t turn it off.
“Fuck I guess I have a type” and he willed himself to be normal about that, to not take it at face value, to fight the way the edges of his lips wanted to tip up. You were drunk you didn’t mean it like that.
“Alright why don’t you come inside and have a glass of water”
You crossed your arms over your chest at that. Cocked one hip and debated the offer, and he had to live with the knowledge that just a day ago you wouldn’t have thought twice about it.
“I’m mad at you” The sentence left you frankly.
“I know” His answer matched.
“Really mad”
“I understand”
“And I don’t want to be” And he didn’t know what to say to that. How to make it any better. What to offer. Ultimately, he knew that there was nothing he could do. A unique feeling of helplessness he still wasn’t used to.
“I’m not sure it works that way”
Your face dropped slightly at that as your arms slipped from their hold on the front of you, silent acknowledgement of the cards dealt between the two of you “Water?”
“Yeah come on in” He led you inside eagerly, nodding at one of the stools at the island for you to sit on while he filled a glass.
“Weird choice to have a million lamps with no other furniture” you commented as you knelt down to say hi to Beef, the chihuahua more than happy to receive the welcome pats from you “I like it”
“Yeah” he chuckled softly, taking a look around at the soft warm glow the lamps now provided as he handed you the glass “me too”
You took the water and drank it quickly, nothing but the sound of your swallows for a few seconds before you set the glass back down as he overthought where he should look, what he should say, how he should stand, everything.
“This is awkward” he laughed at your acknowledgement, the ice fracturing around the two of you at it “That’s what I was afraid of” you groaned into your hands as you melted onto the counter top “I just wish we could go back to the way it was before”
And god he wished he could just agree. That he could apologize and have everything be okay. That it was that easy. But he knew better “I think that’s something sober you should decide”
“I know” it came out small, broken, defeated, a tone he’d never heard from you before, a tone he hoped to never hear again.
“When you said you wished things could be the way they were before…” he hesitated as he began his question, he knew he shouldn’t ask, knew the answer would do nothing but hurt him, knew he was better off not knowing “did you mean with Robert or with Mecha Man”
And you didn’t answer at first, let the silence grow, let it suffocate him as you stared blankly at the wall across from you as you fidgeted with your hands “I don’t know”
Somehow that was the worst answer you could’ve given him.
“We were good right?” Your question was soft, just as hesitant as his “As Mecha Man, we were good?”
“Yeah” and despite everything he couldn’t help the small, fond smile from growing “we were really good”
“Was it me then?” The smile dropped instantly “did I do something?”
“God no” his answer was insistent and immediate, an almost plea for you to believe him “it wasn’t you”
And finally your eyes once again met his, held his gaze even as they grew glossy and red, even as your chin wobbled.
“It was never you” a promise.
And maybe you found whatever you were looking for in his gaze, maybe you decided to figure that out later, either way all you did was nod and drop your gaze, a promise of a conversation to be had later.
“come on you should get some rest” He offered softly.
You seemed almost relieved at the tension break, at the change in topic as you wiped at your eyes.
“Yeah you’re right it’s getting late”
“I’ll grab you some clothes you can crash here” the offer was out of his mouth before he could think through the logistics of it but never once did he regret it.
“That’s okay you don’t have to-“
He cut you off with a wave of his hand, already making his way to his bedroom to grab some sweats “either that or I walk you home and Beef’s afraid of the dark”
You snorted at that, it was almost embarrassing how desperately he clung to the sound.
You took the clothes he offered you without comment as he pushed forward. “Bathrooms through there I’ll be out in the living room if you need anything”
“But where will you sleep?” And honestly he hadn’t thought that far ahead, the small detail never crossed his mind till this moment.
“I’ll figure it out don’t worry”
With little more than a small hum you let him go, offering him a small goodnight before he shut the door behind him, his living room suddenly feeling a lot smaller than before.
Unlike before now the silence suffocated him, his breathing feeling almost uncomfortable as he searched around for something to do, something to distract himself, something to take the edge off.
Making his way to the balcony door he managed to catch the sight of the top of Chase’s head down below on the street, effectively making his decision for him.
“Stay Beef,” he told the small dog as he made for the door, leaving the Chihuahua back for you just in case as he sought some much needed air.
-
He’d managed to pull a pouting Chase inside and shuffle him quietly out to the balcony, hoping all of the doors opening and closing hadn’t woken you up as he filled two red plastic cups with water and brought them outside with him, handing one off to Chase and settling against the railing alongside the man.
“You sure this ain’t vodka?” He should’ve known better than to let Blonde Blazer and Chase mix.
“She told you about that?”
“Made quite the first impression” Chase responded smugly “didn’t know you were into spittin’ in people’s mouths-” and even though there was a lot to get off his chest, a lot he wanted to talk to the man about, he let Chase ramble, let him have this joke, let things feel normal between the two of them, even if it was just for a second.
“You ever think about why we do what we do? Help people?” The sudden question caught him off guard, the switch to reality he hadn’t been ready for.
“It’s the right thing to do” his answer came out on a shrug, a copy line he’d never really considered before.
“Sure…and you think the z-team will be able to tell the difference?” and there it was, Chase’s unrelenting problem with the z-team, a schtick that had once been humorous now drawn out too long.
“That first week, Visi was gonna walk off the team” he pointed out without looking at the man “she was feeling low, talking about how she was born with powers that always meant she’d end up as a villain…like It was fated. So obviously I gave her the pep talk like that’s all bullshit, you make your own fate, yada, yada, yada- I don’t remember what I said. But I remember thinking oh fuck yeah that must’ve been hard. Like if I didn’t have you, you know, and my Dad, Y/N, where would I have ended up?“
Chase’s answer came quick and steadfast “you were always good. That was always in you.”
And sure that was nice to hear but was it something he could take at face value, blind trust in his own virtue, was that really true?
“But I guess I hadn’t considered some things…” And for now he let that be, let the unspoken lessons lie, let the tension dissipate “Though I suppose you’d know a thing or two about that”
A huff left him at Chase’s words, gaze going back out to the city around him as he took a sip from his drink “So you want to get into that now, do you?”
“I’ve been trying to get into that for days now but you keep dodging me” he couldn’t help but laugh at the admittedly true statement “you gonna tell me what is going on between the two of you?”
And for once he didn’t know where he was going with his words, didn’t have a chart mapped out of what to say next, no plan, instead he just spoke “it was always easy with her ya know? Was like she could read my thoughts and know exactly what I needed, where I wanted her, what was going on in my head. Then I fucked up, fucked up badly, and she left and it was like I was missing a limb, there was the hole in my life and I couldn’t help but think if I relied on her that much maybe she was better off without me”
“So you did it for her sake that’s what you’re going with?” He didn’t appreciate Chase’s unimpressed tone no matter how fair it was.
“Then I met her outside of the costume and realized it wasn’t that I relied on her” He spoke pointedly with a roll of his eyes before his tone softened “it was that I liked being around her. She’s funny, witty in a way that’s almost hard to keep up with, she’s nice and in a true personal way not just in a superhero way, and she was hurting because I cut her out when I thought I was doing something good for her and I didn’t know how to fix it”
“So you didn’t” Chase supplied softly.
“So I didn’t” he nodded dejectedly “I kept kicking that can down the road because Electrix and Mecha Man’s relationship was a mess, but Robert and Y/Ns…” he let the sentence hang, let the obvious remain unspoken.
“Well I’ll tell you what, I’ll apologize to Invisigal if you apologize to Electrix hmm?” Chase hummed with a small smile earning a chuckle from Robert in response.
“I have a feeling it’ll take more than that but deal” he acquiesced, the two throwing in a dramatic handshake to seal the deal, before spying Beef through the glass door drag a salt lamp across the floor by the cord.
Immediately getting distracted Chase led the way inside cooing at the round dog as Robert started to clean up, forgetting completely that he should be making an effort to be quiet.
Right on cue the door to his room creaked open drawing the attention of the two men as you stumbled out with a wince, holding a hand up in front of your face to block out the light.
Chase’s gaze snapped to Robert with a devilish grin that spelled trouble but Robert was unable to do anything about it as he recognized what you were wearing, his brain going through a hard reset as he took in the sight of you in his sweatpants, the legs bunched up adorably at your ankles by the cuffs, his sweatshirt hanging sinfully on your frame.
“So this is what you meant by it taking more than an apology” Chase’s remark snapped him out of his haze, the old man earning a glare from him as you took a hesitant step into the room.
“What’s going on?” Your voice was soft and gravely from sleep, further evidence that the two men had in fact woken you up and doing nothing to help his overwhelming urge to wrap you in a blanket and shuffle you back to bed.
“Nothing he was just leaving” he assured you softly as he set down his cup and made his way over, surveying you briefly for any issues “are you okay do you need water or aspirin or anything?”
Your hands latched onto his offered ones to steady yourself as you squinted at him “Robert? What-“ you suddenly cut yourself off as you looked down at what you were wearing, at where you were, clearly recognizing it as not your apartment “oh fuck”
And it seems you have sobered up “yeah” he sighed apologetically “If you still want that free punch the invitation’s open”
“I punched you?” You withdrew your hands from his quickly as you surveyed his face in horror, making him laugh against his better judgement.
“No Flambe did” he assured you “go back to bed, we can deal with it all in the morning”
Studying him for a moment longer your gaze cut back to Chase behind him as he made his way across the apartment before relenting “yeah alright” with a small smile Robert started to usher you back into the room before you paused suddenly, head whipping around to survey the living room again “wait why do you own nothing but lamps”
“They were a gift” he shrugged simply, watching you accept the strange answer with one of your own. Again you were just about to make it back into the room before Chase’s voice interrupted.
“Is this supposed to be flashing?”
Both of you turned around to see what the older man was talking about, finding him staring in confusion at the computer still set up on his island.
“Flashing?” Robert questioned out loud as he made his way over to Chase, his friend getting off the stool in time for Robert to take over and catch Invisgal’s tracker active at the docks, the exact place he thought they had agreed she shouldn’t be.
“Oh fuck” he cursed under his breath as he immediately dived into the security cams in time to catch the fireworks display of gunfire lighting up one of the ships, something he had no doubt Visi was in the middle of.
“Is there a mic on this?” he questioned out loud, searching the machine frantically before trying anyways “hey can you hear me? What the fuck are you doing?”
“Oh not much. Just looking for your stupid ass pulse” Invisigal’s answer rang through the kitchen, her voice slightly out of breath telling him she’d been at it for too long already.
“The astro pulse?” This time you chimed in from beside him “It’s not destroyed?” And what he wouldn’t give to have literally any other moment to tell you about what they’d figured out about his pulse.
“Someone must’ve dropped a pin in the supervillain group chat cause this place is crawling with dipshits” Invisigal carried on without answering and suddenly Robert was overwhelmed. He needed Invisgal to listen to him and get off the boat so they could be smart about this and he needed you to listen to him and get back in bed so you could have a real conversation tomorrow after everyone had rested. But of course, no one ever listened to him.
Right now he’d deal with the more pressing issue “Visi get out of there now”
“Look you’re disappointed, I’m disappointed, I’m sure Chase will have some shit to talk about but I’m here and this is our last chance of getting this thing.”
And he had to admit she had a point there “okay maybe if I can hack into the system I can trace the energy signal”
“Can you do anything to feel the energy trace?” Chase pointed his question at you, the resident energy expert.
You shook your head “with something as big as the pulse it’s usually easy but I can’t do anything through a screen” Your gaze cut back to his room in thought for a second before continuing “give me five and I can head for the docs and see what I can do from there”
“No” the answer was flying out of him before there was any real thought behind it, fingers flying across the keyboard as he tried desperately to string two words together into a sentence “no one else is risking their life for the pulse”
“I’ll know exactly where it is when I’m-“
“Y/N” he cut you off with a plea “by the time you get there it would be too late just please stay here”
You took a second to study him, to weight the options, before nodding “okay”
“Thank you” it came out in a near whisper as he typed, full attention going back to the screen in time to catch what he needed “I’m getting a huge energy reading coming from the captain’s quarters”
“and I’m supposed to know where that is?” He swears every conversation with Invisigal was a test of his patience.
“See that tower? The biggest one. It’s at the top”
“Oh perfect. So you want me to cross this active battlefield.”
“I didn’t want you to do any of this shit you’re the one-“
“I get it okay Jesus” Invisigal cut him off quickly with a huff, taking a deep breath before disappearing.
Taking the opportunity to turn his attention to you he kept one eye on the screen “the pulse apparently survived the explosion. Has been passing hands between different villains for a while now until it finally ended up at the docs. We had a plan to go as a group later to get it but-“
“But invisigal decided to go herself” you supplied with a sigh.
“Yeah” he affirmed with an equally disappointed huff, taking a second to unlock a door for her from the computer “so now we just need to get her out, preferably alive.”
“Heavy on the preferably” he chose to ignore Chase’s comment for the moment.
“where the fuck is this thing because that’s not going to hold them for long?” Visi’s voice chimed through the speakers as she again ignored his plea’s to leave and instead barricaded herself in the captain’s quarters.
“It’s in the safe” he supplied with a few clicks “give me a second”
With a few more clicks the case was unlocked, almost hesitantly he asked, “is it in there?”
“I dunno does it look like a little glowy butt plug” and he wanted to chastise her again, tell her to get out of there, scream at her for disobeying orders. But a bigger part of him was relieved to have it within reach, to be one step closer to who he was, to finally have it all be over.
“You know what I guess it does”
“Holy shit” your soft exclamation came from over his shoulder
“Why did it stop?” Invisigal’s sudden question, however, cut him off from responding, all of his attention going to the camera feed as he watched her exit the office just in time for the power to cut completely. “Robert what’s going on”
“I’m here,” he assured her as he typed furiously “just hang on trying to get the camera back online,” with a few more clicks he was able to get picture, a dim view of Invisigal tiptoeing through the pitch black room coming up “I see you you’re good Just take one step at a time.”
Watching her with the case make slow steps down the stairs, he switched camera angles to get a better view, watching Visi round the corner just in time for a dark shadow in the corner of the screen to turn its head and show off the view of a glowing red eye. “No Invisigal stop. Shroud! Behind you!” his warnings were spilling out of his mouth just as a string of curses fell from yours, you sprinted back to his room as he stared dumbfounded at the screen.
“no no no no no” words flooded from him as he typed, desperate to do anything to help as Invisigal was hurled over the railing to the floor below, a smoke charge following her making the already asthmatic girl cough roughly.
“Visi stay calm” he pleaded “your inhaler is just a few feet in front of you okay?”
Watching Invisigal desperately crawl for the inhaler Robert wanted to scream as he watched Shroud kick it away.
“No hey Visi, he’s just gonna keep fucking with you but you don’t give up okay?” he fought to remain calm, to be the voice of reason, to urge her to keep going “Visi you gotta fight! Please Visi!”
You burst from his room in your regular clothes, shoes not even tied as you made a dash for the front door “You won’t make it in time” Chase stopped you in your tracks with a heavy tone, assuming an all too familiar pose as Robert suddenly realized the new weight in his lap was Beef, a dog that had previously been in Chase’s arms last he checked.
“Chase what’re you-“ Your question never came to fruition as the old man’s gaze cut to Robert, eyes locking as a million unsaid words passed between the two.
“Keep up.”
Realization hitting him just a second too late all Robert could do was yell as Chase disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Hugging Beef to his chest he brought his gaze back to the computer, watching as a flash of blue picked up Invisigal and brought her off the ship in less than a second.
“Okay” he spoke softly to himself as he switched camera angles, fought to remain calm as he tracked the two’s progress, lied to himself that it would all be okay.
Bringing up a cam by the river he switched views just in time to catch Chase lay Invisigal down at the base of a tree softly, standing back up to full height after, making it easier to again lie to himself. Chase made it only a few steps away before collapsing on the grass.
Unable to lie to himself anymore he got up fast enough to knock the stool over, brushing past you without a word as he held Beef to him and made a break for his shoes.
“keys keys keys” he repeated the words out loud as he desperately searched for the metal objects not knowing where he put them, where they usually sat, even what they looked like at this moment, the only thought running through his mind was that he needed to go and he needed to go quickly.
“Robert go I’ve got it”
And maybe he should’ve hesitated, should’ve thought before putting that responsibility on you, should’ve checked that you were sure. But it was you. You were always there for him, you were always trustworthy, you were somebody he could depend on.
So he didn’t think, he just pressed Beef into your chest, barely giving you time to put your arms around the dog to keep him from falling before he had pulled you softly by the back of your neck in close and pressed a kiss to the top of your head, mumbling a soft thanks into your hair before running out of the apartment not even bothering to shut the door.
He didn’t know what he would do when he got there, didn’t know how his next conversation with you would go, didn’t even know when he’d get to see you or Beef next. He just knew he needed to be with Chase now and you would take care of everything else.
Summary: The city’s power goes out and to celebrate a successful shift the z-team hit the bar!
Paring: Robert Robertson x Reader
Word Count: 5.7k
Warnings: Bar fight that’s never even mentioned, author is absolutely not an electrician!
Author’s Note: So sorry this took me so long y’all I moved! But I hope you enjoy it now that it’s here!
Tagging @a-wild-fetus @luluxx18 @xxevil-pleasurexx and @ohnogovno because they asked I hope you all enjoy!! Thank you!
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4
Tilting your head to one side you watched as Robert put a plate in the microwave in the breakroom, Beef dancing happily around his feet in hopes of a piece of food dropping from the counter above.
“Elasto?” You mused out loud as you watched him try desperately to ignore the way the you, Prism, and Malevola were gawking openly at him from the other side of the room.
Prism to your left hummed softly as she cocked her head in the same way you had, studying the man for a moment “I could see it,” You could feel her gaze turn to you for a moment, could practically hear the shit-eating grin grow on her face before she elbowed you in the side “you think all of his appendages stretch like his arms do?”
“You’re disgusting.” You sighed with a roll of your eyes even as you tried to bite back the smile that threatened to grow.
Watching as the microwave beeped and he withdrew his steaming burrito Prism sounded again “Maybe he’s got an iron stomach.” You couldn’t help but agree as you watched him blow on his food. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d seen him eat something that hadn’t come from a vending machine. “Do we know anybody like that? Super Digestion?”
“The Gluttonator?” Malevola offered “But I don’t know that guy weighed like a thousand pounds”
“Flambe said he saw him in the gym this morning,” you offered with a snort “maybe he’s changed his ways”
“Hey Robert,” Prism called out across the room, finally forcing the man to acknowledge the three of you “did you recently lose like seven hundred pounds?”
Robert answered in a blaze monotone “first off you’re either shit at math or you think I’m like three hundred pounds,” He watched with an amused smirk as you made a dramatic show of subtracting seven from ten on your fingers “second off what are you talking about?”
“There’s a pool going around on which superhero you used to be. Person who guesses right wins nine hundred and thirty-six dollars.” Prism answered gleefully.
He eyed you with a raised brow prompting you to shrug “I’m just saying I’ve never seen you and the Gluttonator together in the same room”
He shook his head in response but you could still see the subtle way the edge of his mouth perked up at your comment, before he went back to addressing Prism “That’s a real specific number.”
“And that specific number could be ours. Just one hint.” Malevola pried.
Making a point of turning away from the three of you to throw away his napkin you couldn’t help but note how his eyes seemed to cut to you quickly, as if your presence in this conversation were making him nervous as the three of you pushed.
“I mean we’re friends, right? Make your friends some money.” Prism tacked on.
Avoiding as much eye contact as possible he picked up his plate off the counter “secret identities are secret for a reason. It’s in the name and everything. Crazy right?”
“Oh come on. Don’t be like that.” Prism whined almost making you chuckle.
“Sorry. You’re just gonna have to earn your nine hundred and thirty-six dollars in some other way…what way could that be? I’ll let you know if I work It out.”
“Which hero’s known for being smug” You teased.
Ignoring your jab Robert started to turn away to exit the breakroom, managing to catch the flight of a coffee mug aimed directly for his head just in time, impressively managing to dodge it while still balancing his microwaved burrito on the plate.
Jaw dropping in surprise your gaze whipped around to meet the person who threw it, Malevola grinning smugly at Robert as Prism muttered under her breath “decent reflexes.”
Beef seized his opportunity immediately, jumping in to start lapping at the puddle of coffee at the ground leaving Robert to have to lift him into his arms to keep the hefty chihuahua from drinking too much.
Refusing to read the room Malevola continued with Prism “which heroes do we know that talk too much and have quick reflexes?”
“Clean this shit up” you fought desperately to contain your laughter as Robert chastised the three of you, sending a stern glare across the room before leaving with Beef in his arms.
“Please tell me it at least wasn’t hot coffee” You raised a brow at Malevola who shrugged casually.
“I prefer it iced”
“Out of a mug?” Prism looked outright offended.
-
Lacing up your boots from the bench you listened to the soft sounds of the z-team around you all getting ready for the second half of their shift, a small smile on your face as they each broke out into little groups in casual conversation. If you squinted, they almost looked like a close team.
“Hey folks welcome back” Robert’s deep voice sounded in your earpiece announcing the commencement of the shift.
You watched Invisigal bounce slightly on the balls of her feet, eager to launch into the jabs at Robert she’d prepared “We’ve got a few guesses at your identity. Leading one is Blueballs man.”
“Lemme guess, his power is not being able to nut?” And despite the exasperation he pushed into his tone you could hear the amusement in his voice, he seemed to be enjoying their comradery just as much as you were, even if it came at his expense.
“Nah his balls are literally blue dude, get your mind out of the gutter”
“Great” You chuckled softly at his tone “it’s going to be a long shift.”
And just like that the shift officially kicked off with the first call, a woman worried about her missing cat. Coupe seemed less than thrilled to be assigned.
Wishing them luck you watched Coupe and Malevola bolt out the door as you started to stretch your shoulders out, getting ready for the next call to come through.
Barely any time passed, however, before the lights to the building suddenly cut out, leaving you and the z-team in a room plunged into darkness.
“What the fuck?” You heard Invisigal muse aloud as the rest of the team mirrored her assessment.
Getting up on top of the bench you’d been sitting on you reached up towards the ceiling blindly, reaching in the vague direction you remembered one of the lighting sockets to be until you felt your fingers graze over the smooth glass of a lightbulb.
Going up on your toes you carefully unscrewed the bulb and held the base in one of your hands, enacting your best party trick of sending a small current of electricity through it so that it illuminated.
The other members of the z-team looked up at you acting as a make-shift lamp in subtle awe, Invisigal snorting at you as she shook her head “helpful”
“I can do that too” Flambe scoffed as he held out one palm and made a small fire appear further lighting up the space.
“I mean I can see in the dark so this is pretty standard for me” Malevola offered making you chuckle.
No more than a second later the loud sound of the back-up generator kicking on made you jump slightly, the whole building taking not much longer to switch back on making your lightshow worthless.
Robert’s voice suddenly sounded once again in your ear in a frustrated sigh “the whole city’s out. Guys, this is an all-hands on deck situation”
You couldn’t help but worry slightly at the news. The whole city doesn’t just go out at once, not without something going very wrong. “Hey Robert, I have a feeling the power company could benefit from somebody immune to electric shock”
“Fuck” he groaned into the mic, faintly you could pick up the notification sound of calls starting to flood in “yeah go see what you can do just be careful yeah?”
“Always am” you offered back with a smile as you sent a small nod in good luck to the team before making your way out of the building, looks like it was time to test the total scale of your abilities.
-
Arriving at the nearest power station you pushed your way in like you owned the place, heading straight for the main office to catch the sight of one of the workers hunched behind a desk typing furiously at a computer, gaze cutting up just in time to see you push through the door.
“Fuck am I glad to see you”
“Believe me the feeling is mutual” you offered with a chuckle “where do you need me?”
“I don’t even know” he sighed, looking back down at his computer in contempt as he tried typing away again “it seems to be a cyber attack I can’t get in to anything.”
“I might have a guy who can help with that”
He raised a brow at your suggestion but didn’t question it, instead nodded to the schematics on the wall behind you as he made his way towards them “in that case if he can force a restart on the system while you pump as much electricity into the grid as you can here” he pointed to a spot on the layout “I think that will be enough to jumpstart it”
Nodding at him you made your way to the computer, tapping the communicator in your ear to signal your dispatcher “Robert I’ve got a cyber attack in East Torrance can you-“
“On it” he didn’t even let you finish, a flurry of clicks telling you he was already working on his side of things “this has got the red ring’s fingerprints all over it”
“Fuck” you sighed as you started out of the office, making your way to the point the foreman had pointed out to you “I guess that’s not too surprising but a coordinated attack of this scale? On the whole city?”
“I don’t even want to think about that right now” He groaned back. “Looks like the system’s going to fight me the entire time I’m in there, you ready?”
Finally eyeing the transformer you’d been directed to you made a point to plant your feet, grounding yourself for a moment before responding “yeah just give me a heads up before you finish, all I was told was flood it with as much electricity as I could at the same time and I don’t know how long I can keep that up”
“Got it” he hummed softly in your ears as he furiously typed away.
Giving him silence to concentrate you started to prepare yourself, taking deep breaths and forcing yourself to relax. All of the stuff you hadn’t done since you’d first started testing the limits of your powers as a kid.
“Alright she’s ready” Robert sounded in your ear “3…2…1…go”
With a grunt you pumped as much power into the transformer as you could, a sharp shock traveling through you as more current than you had ever taken on before flowed through you.
Keeping it up until the entire system jump-started you strained slightly under the weight of it, every muscle in your body tense until finally you heard Robert yell in your ear, the words not even important as you took it as your signal to let go, your knees buckling slightly beneath you as you took the opportunity to collapse on the ground, the entire plant around you humming to life as the electricity once again flowed.
Trying desperately to calm your breathing you spoke aloud to Robert “we did it.”
With a small chuckle he responded back “you did it.”
You laughed back appreciatively as you pushed your way to your feet, groaning slightly from the effort of it “so that’s what one down two to go?”
“You got two more in you?” And maybe if it were anyone else you’d have been offended by the doubt, but the concern in his voice made you smile.
“Let’s find out”
-
Turns out you did have two more in you but only just barely. You’d been right when you figured this shift would be the ultimate test of your powers, you’d somehow still underestimated the toll it would take on you.
Collapsing onto a bench in the locker room you’d barely had any time to recover before Invisigal was planting herself right next to you with a dangerous grin.
“She looks like she could use a drink” Invisigal looked back at the rest of the z-team with a sly smile, Punch-up breaking in eagerly.
“Anywhere by Crypto Night”
“Flambe got banned” You eyed the man at the news but he offered little more than a proud smile “Let’s go to the Sardine. Or are you banned from that one too?”
“Good week everyone” Robert broke in on the pause “See you all on Monday”
“Too cool to get a drink with us?” Punch up broke in, in what sounded almost like an offended tone, Prism jumping onto the bandwagon happily.
“Don’t be a bitch.”
“We know you don’t have plans” Coupe joined in as well making you almost proud at their teamwork in the moment.
“I mean Sardine’s a villain bar. Not sure I’d fit in.” Robert pointed out.
Helpful as ever Invisigal offered her solution “Just go dressed like that. Everyone will just think you’re a pervert” prompting the team to bust out laughing. If there was one thing that really brought the team together it was tormenting Robert.
“I dunno guys it’s been a long ass day I think I’m just going to go to sleep” you tried to come in on Robert’s side, honestly looking forward to being able to collapse into bed.
“Booooo” Prism jumped in immediately in dissatisfaction, the rest of the team getting behind her in trying to talk you into it.
“Come on if I have to go you do too” It was Robert, however, who delivered the killing blow, leaving you no choice but to answer with a soft“yeah alright”
The entire team once again acted in unison as they busted into cheers, Prism sounding out with a “Fuck yeah, Bobby,” that had you giggling before she immediately ruined it with “mom and dad are both coming”
Dropping your head into your hands you groaned loudly for affect, hearing Robert do something similar on his end that had the team grinning.
Looking over at Invisigal next to you as she started to grab her stuff from one of the lockers you asked “think my everyday look will be enough to get me into Sardine’s?”
She snorted at that as she threw her locker door shut loudly “Absolutely not I saw what you came in wearing” Throwing an arm harshly around your shoulder she pulled you into her side hard enough to make you stumble lightly, an evil grin on her face as she did so “looks like we’re stopping by my place on the way there”
You couldn’t help but feel you’d made a grave mistake.
-
You ran around every day in a leotard.
Logically you knew this, had accepted it, you were long past feeling insecure or embarrassed about it.
You ran around every day in a brightly-colored skin-tight leotard. You were not afraid of a simple black dress.
That would be ridiculous, illogical, stupid. You were a fucking super hero, you shot electricity from your finger tips, you single handedly (with Robert) brought the power back on the entire city this afternoon you weren’t-
“Would you stop fidgeting” Invisigal suddenly snapping at you effectively pulled you out of your head, pulling your attention back to the rowdy bar around you.
“I just don’t see why I couldn’t have worn my clothes” You pouted as you pulled the neckline of the dress up a little higher, instantly feeling the need to tug down on the hemline as a result.
“You’re trying to fit in now stop it” She chastised you with a slap at your hands.
“My regular clothes absolutely could have fit in” you took a look around the bar as you said it, noting that you were only somewhat stretching the truth with that one.
“Yeah well we’re also trying to give Robert an aneurysm here”
You glared at her for the comment, rolling your eyes with a dramatic groan that only succeeded in widening her smirk “you know we’re not like that, we’re just, I dunno, friends”
“Friends?”
Running a tired hand through your hair you shrugged “I mean I think we’re friends, or at least starting to be”
And at that comment she sobered slightly, her smirk slowly slipping off her face as she studied you for a few moments, eyes searching for something in yours before finally speaking almost hesitantly “I think there’s something you should know… about R-“
She was interrupted by the voice of the bouncer outside sounding off “Hey creep”
With a sharp exhalation of breath through her nose Invisigal cut herself off, gaze jumping to the door to peer outside with a small mumble of “speak of the devil” to herself before returning her gaze to you “I gotta go recue the creep, get a drink and chill out”
Left alone you tried to take her advice, eyeing the other z-team members in the crowd all captivated in their own activities. In looking around you caught the eyes of a few other people in the bar, sending them each awkward smiles only making yourself feel more insecure as you shifted softly from foot to foot.
Finally catching sight of your savior, you nearly sighed in relief at finding Robert at the bar, holding up two fingers to the bartender as Prism, Malevola, and Punch-up joined him.
Quickly making your way to the small group huddled at the end of the bar top you just caught the end of Robert’s order of “9 shitty whiskeys” as you slid up next to him with a snort. “I hear we’re doing whiskey.”
All gazes turned to you suddenly prompting Prism to give you a high-pitched whistle in appreciation as Malevola hummed with a smirk, “Damn Sparky we didn’t know you could clean up so well”
You felt your face color immediately at their comments, hiding a chuckle behind your hand as you shook your head at the two of them “Anything but Sparky that’s a dog’s name”
“Shut yer mouth lad before ya start droolin’” Punch-up’s stage whisper to Robert suddenly broke in as the man himself jumped slightly at the elbow the short hero thrust into his ribs, his head immediately snapping back to the bartender.
“Ten, ten shitty whiskeys” The Bartender nodded back at Robert in response, stepping back to start on the order.
On the other side of Robert you watched as the three members of the team slowly faded back as well, not missing the smug looks they shot one another you were sure to hear about later making you huff slightly.
“I suppose they’ll want us to deliver the whiskeys you’re paying for directly to them too” Again Robert jumped slightly at the sound of your voice, as if he hadn’t expected you to speak to him or had even forgotten you were there.
“That sounds about right” he sent a look over his shoulder with a small sigh at the various members of the team as they scattered throughout the bar.
You nodded your head at the small collection of glasses slowly growing before Robert as the bartender poured “need help delivering those”
Turning his gaze back to you Robert met your eyes for the first time since you’d slid in next to him at the counter top, his gaze dancing around your features for a moment as the silence stretched, rapidly approaching a level of awkwardness before he broke it with a soft clearing of his throat “no-uh-no I got it”
Eyeing the man slightly you furrowed your brow softly as you studied him for a moment, trying to figure out what was wrong before he eased you over with a small smile and a glass of whiskey pressed into your hand. “Thanks” you offered with a small smile of your own, gesturing back behind you with a nod of your head “I’ll find us a table?” You let the end of your sentence float up, offering him an out if he wanted it.
“Sounds good” he agreed easily, gathering up as many classes as could fit in his hands before setting out to deliver them.
You were glad to find a corner booth empty, happily sliding into the round booth just in time to watch Malevola challenge someone to an arm wrestle. You were 90% sure you were about to watch her break someone’s arm.
So focused on her first victim’s cries of pain you hadn’t noticed Robert join you until he knocked his glass softly against yours in cheers, sliding into the seat next to you
“They don’t trust me”
You could have snorted at just how dejected he seemed, as if he’d expected a round of drinks to patch up everything with them. “you’re a hero, the enemy” you offered with a shrug,
“You are too” he pointed out “but they trust you.”
“Kinda have to,” you countered “with the whole being out in the field with me thing.”
You watched as Robert mulled over what you said, the figurative storm cloud over his head that you could practically see pushing you to throw the poor guy a bone “look, they’ve got a big pool around which hero you are and it’s not just for fun.”
Crossing his arms over his chest he settled back into the booth, a raised brow your silent indicator to go on.
“They’re former villains, they’ve got a thing against all heroes yes but especially against specific heroes, the one’s they blame for whatever wrongs they’re trying to atone for. They just want to make sure you’re not that guy.”
Huffing softly you watched his gaze cast out over the bar before the two of you. You could practically see him weighing the cost/benefits of the situation in his head.
“I’m not saying you have to tell them. You’re entitled to your own secrets” You offered softly, leaning forward in your seat slightly to rest your elbows on the tabletop “But if you’re looking for the biggest roadblock to gaining their trust…that’s it”
And even as he nodded at your words you could see the way his gaze glossed over, could watch him check out of the conversation in real time.
Behind him Flambe kicked off his set with a unique rendition of the song Bitch by Merideth Brooks, the chorus in particular taking a dramatic artistic left turn as he inserted Robert’s name as many times as possible.
You hadn’t even realized you started humming along until he leveled a glare at you “what it’s catchy”
“You’re supposed to be on my side”
Chuckling softly you watched as a man with two giant mechanical arms walked up behind the booth and stood menacingly over Robert, glaring down at the man before calling out for all to hear “Who let a loser ass bitch of a hero into our supervillain bar.”
With a groan Robert pinched the bridge of his nose as he muttered out “why’s everyone-“ before cutting himself off and raising his head to address you slightly louder “Do I look like a bitch?- Don’t answer that”
You couldn’t help but chuckle slightly as you watched the mechanical man make his way around the row of booths.
“What are the odds he was talking to you?” Robert asked hopefully
“Do I think the man was speaking to the girl in a plain black dress or the man in an SDN embroidered button up? hmmmm” You pretended to muse the question as you swirled your drink.
“Fuck is he big?” Rober groaned as the man finally came to the head of your table, small flesh arms crossed over his chest as he glared down at Robert “He’s got a big guy voice”
“I think you could take him”
“Not what I asked” Robert bemoaned your answer as he pushed himself up to stand, hands on his hips as he squared his shoulders and addressed the large man “Hey man let me buy you a-“
He was cut off by a loud smack, the man landing a slap to his cheek hard enough to have Robert’s head snapping to the side. “No one’s talking to you fuckin idiota”
Before you even had time to properly react to the quick escalation his large mechanical hand was swallowing Robert’s shoulder, a sudden twist resulting in the man throwing him across the bar into the pool table.
“Woah hey he’s with me” you raised your hands slightly as you stood up on the booth, still trying to deescalate the situation as much as possible.
Grabbing you by the arms with both of his mechanical ones the man pulled you in closer, eyes squinting as he studied you for a moment “Speaking of I don’t know who the fuck you are either”
Immediately deciding to abandon your deescalation plan you placed your palm on the underside of his mechanical arm, sending a small, unnoticeable test current through his system “what you got on these things, 30 amp fuses?” Clicking your tongue at him you shook your head with a grin “least give me a challenge.”
Furrowing his brow at you it took a second for the man to respond to the large electrical current you sent through his arms, his body jolting back slightly as the current burned through the fuses effortlessly, shorting out the system causing his arms to drop you suddenly and hang limply at his sides.
As soon as you hit the ground you were scrambling away from the man as he roared at you, the entire bar suddenly standing at attention as they set their sights on you and Robert, the outsiders among them.
Scrambling to your feet you brought your fists up to protect your face as the man with the no longer functional mechanical arms laughed menacingly at you “you’re going to regret that bitch.”
-
You’ve never been so thankful for an ice cold soda in your life. The paper cup was a surprisingly effective insulator as you held it against the rapidly forming bruise on the side of your face, knowing you couldn’t do anything about the rest of them until you could collapse into a hot bath later.
Slumped up on a shitty plastic picnic table you caught the sight of your dress through the slits in your eyes. Between the blood, rips, and god knows what other types of stains you definitely owed Invisigal a new one of those as well.
Vaguely you heard the scrape of plastic from beside you as Waterboy deposited a tray onto the other table with everyone’s food, a soft mumble about asking to be paid spilling out of him before he took a seat next to you with a dejected sigh that despite the exhaustion exuding from you still made you chuckle.
Without looking you reached into your wallet and slid whatever cash you felt in there towards the kid as the rest of the team started passing out food, giving waterboy a soft “thanks kid” before turning as Punch-up called your name, catching on just in time to catch your tacos as they sailed in your direction.
Focusing more on your food than anything else you listened vaguely to the team talk around you as they regaled the fight in the bar, talking excitedly about each of their roles in a tone that bordered on sadistic.
It was invisgal who brought the stories all home, however, as she recounted her and Robert tag-teaming the man with the mechanical arms to end the fight. Boasting about breaking the flesh ones effectively leaving the man with no working arms in the end. You couldn’t help but chuckle at the image.
“Both arms?” Prism chimed in in an almost disgusted tone “y’all are fucked up.”
“Weird thing is how easy it was” Invisgal answered in what was almost glee “This churro isn’t as soft as his noodle arms” she waved the limp treat in the air for effect before violently ripping it in half “was easy after Electrix disabled the mechanical ones”
You offered a two finger salute in response “glad to be of service”
“Maybe give us a heads up next time you want to start a fight” Golem broke in pointedly at Robert “I wanted another drink”
“You’re heroes now. You don’t start fights, you finish them” God this guy never turns it off.
The team’s reactions were to be expected. A chorus of groans and boos that made you snort.
“Well not many finish fights against the Red Ring.” Malevola boasted with a sip of her drink.
It was Prism who asked the obvious question “Yeah, how do you have beef with them Mister Dispatcher?”
“Yeah we know this Robert guy is a front.” Punch-up tacked on as well “Who are you? Really.”
And you had to admit in this moment you actually hoped he answered. And not just because it would be good for the team, a moment of trust and bonding, but because you were curious. Curious about his life before, what led him to this moment, to dispatching. Who was Robert Robertson?
Robert hesitated for a moment. You watched him fidget in his place slightly as he wrestled with how to answer, how truthful to be.
His gaze came up to Flambe, eyeing the man reproachfully giving you a small insight into exactly who he was afraid of telling, before weirdly enough his gaze cut to you, cut to you and stayed on you for some time.
He did nothing but watch you for a moment, brow deeply furrowed as he frowned, fingers fidgeting on his kneecaps as for a few seconds he said nothing.
You tried to put on your best encouraging smile, tried to convey that you were on his side, though he didn’t seem to be receiving that.
And just as suddenly his gaze dropped to his feet as he leaned forward, planting his elbows on his knees with a small sigh before finally speaking “You’re right. It’s a front. This guy, Robert, is a mask. He’s not real” Siting back up slightly he swept his gaze over all of you “He’s the guy who sits behind his desk, biding his time, dreaming of the day he gets back in the fight. I haven’t told you who I was because I’m kinda starting to like you all and I’m not sure you’re gonna like the real me” The words left him on a sardonic laugh as his gaze once again fell, planting itself on his shoes. “But the difference between this team getting by and this team being great is trust” he eyed you with a small nod, a silent acknowledgment passing between the two of you at the word that made you smile softly “so you should get to know the real me.”
And for a second you watched him change, watched his back straighten, watched his shoulder set. It was a ritual you’d seen him do several times before, a prep he did before he did something hard. His gaze cut to you again and like before it stayed there, didn’t waver, didn’t cut away, for a moment just stayed on you before he forced the words out “I’m Mecha Man”
And maybe you should’ve known better.
It was the first thought that ran through your head. That you should’ve seen it coming, should’ve known, should’ve at least suspected.
You could see it all now, it was in the cut of his jaw, in the determination in his gaze, in the familiarity of his voice, how the fuck had you not placed his voice?
You didn’t react as the rest of the team did, didn’t flinch as Flambe tried to burn him. Golem jumped in the way just in time to save him and not once could you tear your eyes off Robert, stop counting up the similarities in your head, the signs you had missed, or maybe willfully ignored, you weren’t sure which was worse.
“Hey you okay?” It was Prism who finally broke you out of your stupor, her hand falling lightly onto your shoulder making you jump and finally break eye contact.
Whipping your gaze over to meet hers you found the rest of the z-team’s eyes on you as well. A sea of furrowed brows all pointed in your direction making you suddenly stand up fast enough to nearly trip over the bench.
“Y/N” You vaguely heard Robert call your name as he poked his head around Golem, your gaze instinctively finding his though quickly deciding eye contact to be too much right now.
“I have to go” it was a weak excuse and you weren’t even sure you’d said it loudly enough for anyone to hear you, all you knew is you needed to get out of there now.
“Y/N wait” It was Robert again but you elected to ignore it. Stumbling slightly as you pulled your body to the parking lot, your legs jelly beneath you as you tried to flee.
“Electrix please” and for some reason that was the call that pushed you over the edge, the use of your hero name, a desperate call for you to stay from the man who pushed you away.
You spun around so suddenly Robert barely had time to stop before he was nearly crashing into you, able to do nothing to stop the harsh finger you jabbed into his chest along with a small spark you hadn’t even meant to send.
But still he didn’t jump back, didn’t even react to any of it, instead he stayed planted on the spot, hands held up slightly, eyes wide looking at you.
And you took one more second to look, to chart the areas you’d thought would always be hidden to you beneath a mask, to reconcile the hero you’d known for years with the dispatcher you’d known for weeks.
Again tagging @a-wild-fetus @luluxx118 and @ohnogovno because they asked thank you so much!!
Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3
He wanted to trust Royd.
Scratch that. He did trust Royd.
If there was anyone who could figure out a replacement to the astro pulse, a way to fix his suit, it was Royd.
But with each failed test it was getting harder and harder to remain steadfast in that trust.
This morning was failed test number seven. Seven times he’d come so close to having his suit back, his identity back, and seven times he’s had it ripped away from him all over again.
It hurt more each time, to have a taste of the old him only for it to end seconds later in a near explosion.
With a sigh he looked down at the table beneath him littered in different blueprints, only about half of them relating to his suit, as Royd moved around him shifting boxes full of what looked to be broken tech.
“Royd what is all of this stuff?”
The large man moved behind him as he answered, pushing pieces of his suit back onto their racks to be stored out of the way “whole network expect me for process all de confiscated stuffs. Cus we da bottom branch to-“ Royd’s voice died off suddenly, a newfound silence filling the lab that had Robert lifting his head, following Royd’s gaze to find a sudden new comer to the lab.
As soon as he recognized you Robert was scrambling, shuffling blueprints as far back from the edge as he could, desperately hiding prototype pulses behind them “Electrix what-what are you doing here”
You said nothing, made absolutely no move to show that you had even heard him, instead your gaze was fixed on the suit itself, on the husk of the symbol it had once been hanging on the wall.
“Electrix look I promise it’s not-“ he tried again, swooping in and placing a hand on your arm in an attempt to usher you away but you sent a small shock back at him in response, a small bite to warn him off from trying to touch you again that had him jerking his hand back fast.
Your eyes were wide as you stared up at it, mouth parted slightly as you struggled to take it all in, words escaping your lips so softly he strained to hear it “what the fuck”
He stepped in front of you to try and cut off your view entirely, hands held up in appeasement as he tried to control the situation “Please let’s go outside and talk”
The way your expression collapsed on him at once told him all he needed to know. The way your eyes narrowed, your jaw clenched, your prow pinched. He’s seen that expression before, never once been on this side of it however. “How the fuck did you get that”
“I promise I can explain” how he planned to explain he had no clue but that was all the way at step 2, step 1 was get you out of the lab.
“No why the fuck is it here and why the fuck is it in pieces” you left him no room to move in, no move to try and dance around the issue, he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen you so pissed off before.
“Why don’t we all just calm down for a sec” He knew the words were a mistake as soon as they spilled from his stupid lips.
Wasting no time you grabbed him by the collar and threw him against the nearest wall, his head hitting the rough concrete harshly as you held him just enough off the ground that his toes barely scrapped it. “You don’t get it I know the man inside that armor, the only way you get it off him is you go through him so where the fuck is he”
He held desperately onto your wrists but did his best not to try and free himself, to let you have control of the situation “I swear to you he knows”
“Not good enough” it was all the warning he got before you were pushing down on his throat with your forearm, cutting off his source of oxygen as you pushed him harder into the wall “why do you have the Mecha Man suit”
Clawing desperately at your arm he chocked the last words out he could think of “He made a deal” They seemed to work as you froze, the pressure on his neck decreasing enough he could suck down another lungful of air “he made a deal so that we’d help him fix his suit”
A startled blink ran through you as you processed what he said, as you processed what position you had him in. Unceremoniously you took a step back allowing him to drop to the floor in a heap, rough wet coughs escaping him as he forced harsh breaths through his throat.
“A deal?”
He nodded eagerly, fingers hovering over his neck as he greedily gulped down air “he’ll do some work for us and we fix his suit”
“Fuck Robert” and suddenly you were kneeling next to him, a million apologies spilling out of you as you ran a soothing hand up and down his back, arm held out ready to help him to his feet once he had caught his breath.
“You’re fine” he really wished he hadn’t needed to cough on the words as they came out, accepting the hand you offered to help him stand more because he knew it’d make you feel better than anything else “really it’s okay”
You ignored his assurances completely, one hand flying to his jaw to angle his head up to get a better look at his neck.
He was bating your hands away with a small huff, fingers naturally tangling with yours and holding them still for a beat too long before letting them go “really I get it, you’re protecting your friend”
And he could see your eyes glaze over in real time, could hear the hollowness in your tone as you answered back “right my friend” and still he had to stand inches away from your face and act like it didn’t kill him.
“Still” you snapped back into focus, frowning at him “that’s not an excuse I just saw it and reacted and I totally understand if you don’t want to work with me anymore I can talk to Blazer-“
“Woah hey” Again he was cutting you off with a small chuckle, hands coming to the tops of your shoulders to ground you, a ritual he’d done too many times before “I cannot stress this enough we are okay.”
The move shut you down immediately, your mouth finally closing even as you continued to eye him skeptically, gaze dancing around his face as if trying to discern the truth “are you sure”
“Positive” his answer was immediate, his hands slipping from your arms as he took a step back “it was a knee jerk reaction. You know it I know it and it won’t happen again. Now go get ready for your shift before I end up being the one to talk to Blazer”
And even though his words seemed to appease you slightly he could still see the hesitancy within you, still knew you weren’t dropping it anytime soon. “Allright. You need anything before I do? Water? Ice Pack?”
“I’m fine” he assured you softly “really”
With a small huff and a nod you finally started to make your way out of the lab, making it a few more steps closer to the door before you were spinning back around “Hey Rob. Have you talked to him lately?” you sent a nod at the suit “is he ok?”
Despite everything you still worried about him. Still checked on him. Still cared. “Yeah he’s okay” he tried not to choke on the words.
Giving him a smile that felt more like a performance than a genuine expression you finally left the lab, leaving him alone with the broken remnants of the person he once was and a mountain worth of things to apologize for.
“You two got one weird energy going on huh?” And Royd, can’t forget Royd.
“Yeah thanks for your help there bud”
“Ahh” Royd dismissed him with a shake of his head and a tongue click “she wasn’t gonna kill you”
“That isn’t where the bar should be”
-
Deciding to add Waterboy to the team wasn’t a difficult decision. The kid needed a break, needed people who had his back, needed proof that even if they made fun of you a little it was all done with love, he needed the Z-team.
Your reaction to adding Waterboy to the team was one he saw coming a mile away, you were in his corner the second you laid eyes on him. The team of course poked jokes and complained and for the most part you let it happen but you always kept it from going too far, from truly hurting the kid’s feelings. It was good for him.
All in all he couldn’t be mad about today’s shift. He’s had worse ones that’s for sure.
“Not only did you cut one of their dumbshit criminal buddies, you’re also forcing them to work with-“ Chase’s ever optimistic voice chimed in from over the dividing wall, Robert taking the opportunity to jump in before he could finish his thought.
“-an actual good person that wants to be a hero?”
“I was gonna go with wet baby bitch boy but yeah we can go with yours”
With a sigh he pinched the bridge of his nose, giving his end of shift stats an eye before answering “yeah…let’s go with mine”
“Hey Kid, love ya” Always bringing it home with a supporting message Chase laid it on thick as he slung a backpack over his shoulder, pausing just long enough to hear Robers “love you too Unc” before he was making his way out of the building leaving him alone in the dark, desolate office building.
Taking a second to tidy his desk Robert grabbed a few stray pens and tossed them into the top drawer of his desk, catching the glimpse of an old photo he had forgotten he’d stashed in there, him and his Dad when he was a kid.
Pushing himself off from the desk he took a moment in his roller chair, spinning aimlessly in a circle as he stared up at the ceiling and thought over all that had become of his Dad’s legacy in the past few weeks.
A reporter had once asked him if he thought his Dad would be proud of what he had become. At the time he’d written it off as an attempt to make him blow up, to get a quote, but now he couldn’t help but wonder would he? Third in line to the Mecha Man name and he’d lost the pulse, destroyed the suit, basically given up.
He can’t remember the last time he’d ever felt so alone.
Sure he was the one to blame for that but it was significantly easier to ration your way through that kind of thought than to actually feel it.
“Is this some sort of ancient dispatcher technique I didn’t know about?” Your voice caught him off guard, face appearing in his peripheral vision as he planted his feet to force himself to stop.
“Yes and it’s a secret so unfortunately now that you have seen it I do have to kill you”
You snorted at his joke, sending him a sly wink as you spoke “I’ll warn you Robert Robertson I pack quite a punch”
He was interrupted however before he could respond by the clinking of a metal tag on a collar as his overweight chihuahua with excellent timing decided to make himself known, waddling up to you with an excited tail wag and an expectation to be greeted with enthusiasm.
An expectation you exceeded spectacularly.
As soon as your eyes landed on him you were melting to the floor in front of him, voice going up several octaves as you showered Beef with affection the little dog enjoying every second of it.
“Electrix meet Beef. Beef Electrix” he introduced you two to each other with a smile on his face as he watched you eagerly comply with tummy scratches, Beef’s tail wagging hard enough it had his entire body rocking with the force of it “we were actually just about to go on our last trip outside before heading home”
“Oh well in that case little Beef please show me the way” with one last scratch you stood up straight and took a step back, watching as Beef happily got to his feet and started to lead you to the nearest exit.
With a chuckle to himself Robert pushed himself up to his feet, grabbing a ball nearby and watching as Beef led you forward, checking back every few steps to make sure you were still there.
Following the two of you outside he came to a stop underneath a tree in a nearby grassy patch, Beef looking up at him and eyeing the ball in his hand eagerly.
Willing the little dog not to embarrass him he gave the ball a soft toss to the left, watching Beef take approximately two steps in that direction before getting distracted by a smell and wondering off eagerly to the right.
“Oh my god I love him”
He snorted at just how genuine you seemed, watching the little dumbass entertain himself with a leaf blowing in the wind. “If you like that just wait till you see all of the tricks he doesn’t know”
You chuckled appreciatively at his joke, a silence falling over the two of you as you both watched Beef roll on the ground. He wondered if you appreciated it too, just how comfortable the silences could be between the two of you, how little pressure there was to fill it.
“I just wanted to apologize for this morning again”
“don’t” he was cutting you off before you could spiral any further, watching you from the corner of his eyes as you crossed your arms over your chest “Really it’s okay. He’s lucky you know, to have a friend like you”
You chuckled dejectedly at the statement as Robert fought to walk that tightrope, being and not being, Mecha Man and Robert Robertson
“Yeah friend” He could see you tighten your arms around yourself, see the frustrated shake of your head, and decided to stay silent, to see how far you would take it. “We actually haven’t talked since it happened”
And even if he was the one to start the conversation Robert couldn’t help but panic slightly, urgently searching for the right words to say “oh?”
“I must have called him dozens of times after it hit the news” you seemed not to take note of his discomfort, of his awkwardness “For a few days after I had genuinely thought he died”
And logically Robert knew that would have been the conclusion you came to, that it would have been the rational conclusion to come to, but somehow actually hearing you say it made it worse. “I’m sorry”
“Don’t be I just-“ you paused with a big breath, your eyes never once leaving the overweight chihuahua as he played in the grass “I just wished I knew what happened you know. What changed”
“You didn’t deserve that, you don’t deserve that”
Your gaze cut to him and even if you had a soft smile on your face he couldn’t focus on anything but the way your eyes had gone glassy, on the way you sniffed loudly to try and keep it all in.
“Sorry I can’t believe I’m crying on something like this” you laughed to try and break the tension as you wiped at your eyes, turning your body away from him slightly as you focused back on Beef.
“You guys were close it makes sense to be hurt by that” the words tasted sour on his tongue.
“It’s not just that it’s-“ you cut yourself off with a sigh “It was like with him I lost my purpose you know. He was my partner, the person I fought alongside for years and he just disappeared. I didn’t know how to just be me, just Electrix anymore.”
And truthfully he hadn’t ever thought of it like that, considered the true size of the hole he left in your life when he stopped responding. Part of him always assumed he was someone you’d just get over.
“He was larger than life ya know?” but still you continued, he wasn’t sure how much more he could take “This figurehead for good and for a time I watched that get corrupted, watched him suffer without doing anything about it until it destroyed him” a sardonic laugh escaped you “Icarus fell”
A tense silence settled over you as he struggled with what to say.
“Maybe that was too much to put on one man. Maybe I wasn’t fair to him”
“No” the word left him in a frustrated huff before he had really thought through what he was going to say “No this isn’t on you, none of that is on you”
You offered him a small smile at that but he could see the way it didn’t meet your eyes, how you still didn’t believe him.
“I’m serious he-“ he broke himself off with a huff, taking a deep breath before continuing “from what I can tell at least he was going through a lot and he delt with it poorly that’s on him. He’s an asshole”
You snorted at that “I don’t know if I’d-”
“He’s an asshole” he cut you off sternly, sending you a look that said he wasn’t backing down on this “You didn’t deserve to be abandoned like that, no one does”
And this time you let it be, let his words sink it, let the world around you settle. “I told you you were good at pep talks”
“Shut up” the words left him on a chuckle as he bumped your shoulder with his, enjoying the way you laughed, how consumed by it you seemed “it was being good at pep talks that had me talking Phenomaman through his and Blonde Blazer’s breakup this afternoon”
“You did not” You exclaimed the words gleefully as you turned fully to face him, on hand coming up to squeeze his shoulder as you did so.
“I did” he nodded with a grin “he was moping in the parking lot on top of someone’s car, also apparently kept sending edible arrangements.
“I was wondering why those kept appearing in the breakroom, and like does he choose the ones that are all melon specifically?”
“That remains one of the great mysteries of our time”
And he appreciated how natural the sudden change was, how easy it was to just be with you, how easy it always was. Why hadn’t he ever noticed it before? Ever appreciated it.
He watched as you knelt down to retrieve the ball Beef finally decided to bring back to the two of you and tried not to wrestle with the fact that you had cried in front of him, cried because of him. He’d never seen you crack like that, he didn’t know you could crack like that.
How many times had it happened before and he just didn’t know.
You and Beef once again led the way back into the building and wordlessly Robert followed, watching you coo happily at Beef as he ran small circles around you, nearly as enthralled with your presence as his owner was.
Making his way back up to his desk you gave a soft goodbye to Beef, giving the little dog a last several pets on the head before standing up and bidding Robert a goodbye, a soft smile as you started to make your way to the break room.
From the corner of his eye an alert on his screen caught his eye, a pop-up of Invisigal’s photo with a message stating that the hero was outside of coverage area. He thought about clicking the locate button, checking in more out of pure curiosity than anything else when the buzz of his phone pulled his attention away from the screen.
Pulling out his phone a few texts from Blonde Blazer popped up asking if he was up for a late dinner.
Bouncing his gaze between his phone and his computer he thought about what to do when he caught movement from the corner of his eye, you sans hero suit with a duffle over your shoulder giving him a small wave as you passed by once again making your way for the elevator.
Summary: Reader POV a member of the z-team gets cut
Pairing: Robert Robertson x Reader
Word Count: 4.6k
Warnings: Some swearing, reader gets minor injury and recovers quick.
Author’s Note: I liked the idea of releasing these two at a time like the game so here’s episode 3 and 4 will follow shortly after! I absolutely adore all of the love this series has gotten so please please please keep it up! It’s lovely to know people enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it!
Tagging @a-wild-fetus @luluxx118 and @ohnogovno because they asked thank you so much!!
Episode 1 Episode 2
Yesterday was hard. You were adult enough to admit that.
A lot of that was to be expected, it was a new job, you were on a team of former villains who saw you as a glorified babysitter, you were fighting without Mecha Man for the first time in years. Things were bound to be hard.
But you could handle hard, you could handle new, you could handle different, it just took time. You’d get used to the new team you’d get used to not having Mecha Man by your side constantly you’d get used to not being taken seriously by any of your teammates.
And that last point was just temporary, or so you’d tell yourself. You could see it within them, this desire to do good, to be seen as more than their villainous past, a genuine desire to help, they just needed guidance.
They needed someone on their side, someone who shows up and believes in them even when they stumble, someone who says no matter what as long as you’re trying to be better I believe in you. And you could be that person. You and Robert at least, he seemed like he was on the same page yesterday. Between the two of you there was no doubt in your mind that you could get these guys to start taking their job seriously, to start taking themselves seriously.
“Hey good morning” You jumped at the sudden voice, your reaction sending the elevator bobbing up and down slightly as your gaze cut to the woman you had somehow missed the entire ride.
Blonde Blazer offered a sheepish smile and a small wave, cringing slightly at your reaction as you desperately willed your heart to get back into your chest “Sorry I thought you had seen me earlier but you seemed really focused on something”
You would have laughed if you weren’t so desperately trying to control your breathing “no-I just-no-it’s nothing, a little distracted this morning I guess. Good morning”
Her smile got a little warmer at that, taking a small step back to give you space to get off the elevator as it finally dinged, announcing your arrival at the training room floor. “I do however have an ulterior motive in following you down here”
“Stalking, and I thought you were supposed to be an upstanding citizen Blazer”
She laughed politely at your joke but you could hear the force in it, could see the way her smile didn’t fully reach her eyes, her hand reaching out to stop you from opening the door to the gym was the final tell, something was really going on.
Stopping just in front of the doors you turned to face her with a furrowed brow, a silent question sent her way as she folded her hands together in front of herself.
“Look I just want to give you a heads up, I’m going to cut someone from the z-team today”
“You’re what?” the question was slipping from your lips before you could even fully process the statement.
With a small sigh she ushered you to the side of the door with a hand on your shoulder, casting a look around to make sure the hallway was clear “It’s no secret the z-team has the lowest performing numbers by far, your and Robert’s work yesterday was phenomenal but it’s still not enough. I’m looking to shake things up, create a sense of urgency.”
And truthfully you didn’t know how to respond to that, how to wrap your head fully around how fundamentally terrible of an idea that was. The z-team’s main issue was their lack of teamwork, they didn’t trust one another, or at least fundamentally believed they were each better off on their own. You needed to get in and prove to them that their fellow teammates weren’t a shackle around their ankle but a tool that can help them do bigger and better things. Establishing that lack of structure that instability within the team dynamic itself threatened to ruin any progress you and Robert had already made. The only thing that could be worse for the team at this time would be-
“At the end of the shift we’re going to cut whoever is at the bottom of the leaderboard”
-somehow turning each member against one another.
She must have mistook your silence for worry, a blessing in disguise perhaps as she continued quickly “your position is of course safe. Not that you really had anything to worry about but your position on the team is one of extenuating circumstances”
Further aligning you with the corporation behind the mic, thus alienating you further from the team. Perfect.
“Ahhh wow. Thank you for the heads up” The words all but spilled out of you, a desperate attempt to get anything but what you were actually thinking out of your mouth.
It must have been the right call, however, as Blazer gave you a heartfelt smile at the words, giving you a pat on the shoulder as she started to make her way to the elevator “no problem, have a good shift yeah?”
Offering her your best smile you could drum up in the moment you stayed rooted to the spot, unable to do anything but take a deep breath.
Blazer knew what she was doing, she’s been at this job much longer than you have surely she knew how her employees would react to something like this.
And afterall the z-team were all adults surely they’d be able to see this as an opportunity to buckle down and give their best shift yet rather than resort to petty, childish sabotage attempts to their fellow teammates.
The loud slam of the gym doors knocked you out of your thoughts as Coupe dramatically pushed through them, the hint of a smug smile on her face even as her eyes promised murder.
She sent you a glare as she walked past though you struggled to discern whether it was any more withering than usual.
Left in her wake was the voice of Sonar slipping through the doors as they slowly returned back to their closed positions, a pathetic whine filling the hallway “Coupe come on come back this isn’t funny” coupled with what sounded like the jingle of handcuffs on a metal pole.
Motherfucker.
-
You all but collapsed onto the bench as soon as you returned. So far today you’ve intercepted a drug deal, broken up a fight at a tailgate, and stopped a landslide. You’d gone out on every call you could possibly go on and you couldn’t remember the last time you had felt exhaustion seep into your bones like this.
“So what you think just because your position is safe you can nap on the job” a harsh kick was aimed at the bench but you couldn’t even bring yourself to flinch at it.
Instead you remained as impassive as possible, eyes shut beneath the arm you had thrown over the top of them as you responded “not in the mood Invisibitch”
Her laugh was crafted to ease the tension but you could hear the glee in it, she was looking for a fight and quite honestly you were too tired to try and circumvent her “I’m just saying while the rest of us are here working our asses off to try and keep our jobs you get to sit pretty in knowledge that at the end of the day you still have yours”
Throwing your arm off your eyes you sent a glare at Invisigal in response, pointedly ignoring the warning tone in Robert’s desperate ‘guys’ in your ear as you rounded on her “and you know why you’re all here right now? In this locker room? Because you can’t be trusted to go out on calls together like the team you claim to be. Half of you are injured, most calls are a failure, and I’m the only one that can go on a call with any of you because I’m not in danger of friendly fire. Thanks to your guys’ childish inability to suck it up and just do your jobs we’re about to have our worst performing shift on record” and maybe you were being a bad mentor in this situation, maybe yelling at them at a low point wasn’t the answer but you were so tired and so done with their petty bullshit “you’re doing nothing but proving all of them right when they think lowly of the phoenix program”
Silence surrounded you at your words, filled the locker room around you thick enough to choke on as each member of the z-team did what they could to avoid eye contact with you. And maybe it was out of shame, or embarrassment, or just a genuine hope that you would stop talking soon, you were too tired to figure it out.
A call broke the tension in the air right on time. Some burglar spotted fleeing. Malevola was on her feet before the caller even finished with an eager “I’ll handle this”, not bothering to wait for the go-ahead from Robert before she was running out the door.
Invisigal sent one last glare in your direction, a silent promise of a fight to come before she disappeared on the spot, a door that seemed to open on its own foretelling exactly what you were afraid of.
Tapping the com in your ear you switched to a private channel with Robert, stretching through your back as you made your way to the doors as well “she’s going where I think she’s going isn’t she”
“of course she is” his voice sounded just as tired as yours was.
“Awesome” you sighed, giving yourself exactly one second of rest before making your way out of the building “I guess I’ll try and keep them from killing one another”
“Be safe yeah?” You couldn’t help but smile at the softness in his voice, nice to know at least one person cared here.
“I’ll do my best”
Thanks to your lack of interdimensional portal travel you arrived significantly after Malevola did however just in time to witness Invisigal purposefully tripping her with a chain she’d tied around a nearby dumpster. Hooray for you.
Maelvola wasted no time in striking back, not even bothering to stand up fully before she was swinging her sword in Invisigal’s direction.
You sprung into action with a pleaing “guys come on” as you threw yourself between the two with your hands held up, trying to get the 7 foot tall Tiefling to drop the sword.
“Out of the way princess” was all the warning you got before she was swinging again, Invisigal disappearing from behind you just in time as you ducked out of the way.
“yeah so the perp that just ran by was Lightningstruck. This is now the second time that you let him get away.” Rob’s disappointed monotone in your ear was a weird juxtaposition to the situation around you as you tried to get Malevola to stop.
“No shit that’s crazy” Invisigal appeared suddenly in response giving her the perfect opportunity to swing again, ducking out of the way just in time to avoid decapitation.
“Come on don’t make me shock you” you pleaded as you jumped in again, Malevola ignoring you with a grunt as she elbowed you out of the way in order to get another slice in.
“Mal please” you begged again, watching as a mischievous glint played in her eyes.
Using the upstroke to open one portal the spark of pink appearing right behind Invisigal was all you needed, lunging for her and tackling her to the ground without a second thought, a strangled cry breaking through your lips as the sharp tip of a glowing sword sliced through your lower abdomen.
Everything around you froze in response, Invisgal scrambling to her feet from beneath you with wide eyes, as Malevola froze from above you.
“Electrix? What the fuck is going on over there?” Robert’s voice seemed to knock both women out of their stupor, Malevola swarming you pressing harshly at the cut in your abdomen as Invisigal did her best to hide you from the nearby security cams.
“She’s fine it’s just a scratch” Malevola tried to blow him off as she tried to stop the bleeding, speaking louder over your hisses as if that would drown out the sound of them.
“Electrix come in I want to hear it from you” You would have laughed at the face Malevola pulled as Robert steamrolled over her.
“Just a scratch I’m fine Rob” to your credit it was more or less true as well. You’ve been in worse situations all things considered, just hurt like a bitch.
“That’s it I’m done fucking around” you could hear the exasperation in his tone, whatever was next for the z-team it was sure to spell trouble “All Z-Team back to base and in the conference room in twenty minutes. Mal make sure she gets to the med center” The harsh sudden cutoff of his voice told you he’d ripped the headset off right after, thus totally missing the ‘on it boss’ Malevola threw back at him after he had done so.
Invisigal turned back to the two of you as Maleovla helped you stand, sending little more than a cheeky salute in your direction before disappearing on the spot, leaving the two of you alone.
Propping yourself against a nearby wall you stood back to give Malevola enough room to make a portal, watching as she readied her sword for a second before turning her gaze back to you with a wicked smirk. “So Rob huh?”
“You’re only allowed to interrogate me when you don’t make me bleed”
She snorted gleefully at that, slicing a portal on a nearby wall and offering her arm out to you to help you through it “I’ll hold you to that”
-
“Fuck that doesn’t look good” You jumped slightly from your seated position at the sudden voice, head snapping up just in time to see Robert slowly make his way into the infirmary, eyes glued to the wound you were currently wrapping a bandage around on your torso.
“Woah Rob give a lady a warning next time” you said it with a cheeky smile, turning your gaze back to the wound as you pulled the bandage taut.
“Of course my bad would you prefer I knock on the curtain” You chuckled at the question, pressing the bandage into place and letting the top of your uniform fall back into place over top. “seriously how are you feeling”
“Oh I’m fine” you waved off the concern without any thought, turning slightly to rest your back against the end of the bed giving him room to perch on the end “Almost nice to have a break, like a little holiday”
He didn’t laugh at your joke, instead eyed you skeptically, gaze jumping back down to your abdomen as if you were going to bleed through at any moment.
“Really, don’t worry about it I’ve had worse” You tried again, the small glare you received in response telling you everything you needed to know about how he felt of you making light of the situation.
“I’d still prefer it if you remained hole free”
“Hazard of the job unfortunately”
His lips thinned at your comment, a small frown deepening on his face as he pinched the bridge of his nose “that’s the thing isn’t it, it wasn’t a hazard of the job it was just a hazard of them, hazard of childish pride and pettiness”
You almost wanted to laugh at his words, would have if the man looked any less like a kicked puppy in this instance. “It’s just this shift” you offered the words tentatively, unsure of how much they’d help “one shift of crazy, one of them will get cut, they’ll be butt-hurt about it for a bit, eventually they’ll get over it”
He snorted softly at that, his hands making their way to his pockets as he studied you “eventually huh?”
“In the words of a sad, confused dispatcher, it’s the best we can hope for”
“Wow, sad huh?”
“He really had this kicked puppy look going for him, guess you just had to be there” He chuckled at that and you found that you liked the way he collapsed into it, they was his head hung almost in resignation as he did so, it fit him.
“You always know what to say don’t you” the words were soft, soft enough you weren’t sure you were supposed to hear them, but still his gaze came back up to meet yours, one end of his lips tipped up.
“What can I say it’s a gift”
With a roll of his eyes he stood up from the end of the bed instructing you softly to “get some rest”
You snorted at that “will do boss, I’ve got what twenty minutes before the second half of my shift”
“I’m not sending you back out there” he shook his head without any hesitation, as if he’d already made up his mind “besides I have a feeling they’ll behave themselves the rest of the shift, take a break”
“I mean it when I said I’ve had worse. Give me twenty I’ll be back at 100”
He paused in the doorway at that, a dramatic huff leaving his nose as he looked back at you “You’re just going to ignore whatever I say and go back out there anyways right”
You offered him nothing but a smile.
His hand was back at the bridge of his nose “God forbid I have one person on this fucking team that listens to me. Fine, but I’m not putting you on anything more strenuous than a coffee run.”
“Oh come on” you whined from your relaxed position, watching as he waved you off without a word as he set off down the hallway “It’s just a scratch!” Still nothing “Tis nothing but a flesh wound!” you liked to think he was just too far away for you to hear his chuckle.
-
The rest of the shift passed much smoother than the first half. To be fair it was a fairly low bar but the team soared above it beautifully. They worked together without comment, didn’t fight back on any of Robert’s dispatch decisions, they looked much more like the team you had hoped they could be rather than the train wreck that was this morning.
Robert true to his word never once assigned you to any calls the rest of the day, not even letting you join on the call about a cult recruiting members, which hurt the most. If you chose to reward yourself for a relaxing second half by helping out with stopping a minor bank robbery, well that was no ones business but your own. Besides, things were going too well for the rest of the team for Robert to properly chew you out over the channel.
One thing hard to miss throughout the shift though, Invisigal.
It was no secret she was at the bottom of the leaderboard, and by a significant amount, and from the way she was flat out refusing to go on any calls Robert tried to assign her it seemed that she had no real desire to fix it.
You watched her for a few calls, the locker room a revolving door of z-teamers in and out and she just sat there, leg bouncing anxiously up and down, eyes glued to the clock on the wall.
Tentatively you finally talked yourself into dealing with it, sitting down on the bench next to her, not saying anything even as she eyed you from the corner of her eyes.
“Look we don’t have to do this”
“Do what” you played dumb, refused to lower your volume as much as she did, refused to let her hide as she was so desperate to do.
“This” she gestured blindly between the two of you “babysit, mentor, whatever you want to call it, you don’t have to waste your time on me”
“Wouldn’t consider it a waste” She scoffed loudly at that.
“Alright so then you want to what? Tell me about my wasted potential? Call me a phoenix? Tell me that if I just focused I could do all this great shit and be the best super hero in the world?” Her gaze finally fully turned to you, dead eyes daring you to contradict her, to jump in “nice try robot-fucker but Robert already beat you to that punch”
“Damn, sounds like a good speech can’t believe I missed it” She rolled her eyes at your comment, apparently she was the only one allowed to joke in a time like this.
“If anything I’m making it easy on him. No issue trying to decide who to cut when there’s an obvious choice right”
“Now hold on-“ she barely let you get the words out before she was standing, a look at the clock telling you your shift was officially over and she disappeared on the spot, slipping out the door leaving you no tracks to follow.
“Robert-“
“I got her” his voice came into your ear through the coms picking up right where you left off.
With a sigh you sat back down on the bench, head falling into your hands with a big breath, Robert’s voice in your head again taking you by surprise.
“Are you smoking in a playground? The fuck is wrong with you” You couldn’t help but snort at his tone, clearly he wasn’t talking to you.
Raising your hand up to your ear you were about to let him know he had the wrong channel when Invisigal’s voice cut you off “There you go. One more strike against me. You gotta get rid of someone right. I’m making it easier on you.”
And a part of you felt bad for listening in on their conversation, on this private moment of vulnerability “No. You’re quitting you’re not making it easy for me, you’re making it easy for you.”
You should at least let him know they were on the group channel right? Getting ready again to chime in a new figure sitting next to you caught your eye, Malevola planting herself on the bench along side you, her gaze stuck to the floor in front of her while she listened “Some people are born to be heroes. I’m not one of them. I tried, it wasn’t meant to be”
“Meant to be? What are you talking about?”
Looking up you caught the rest of the z-team around the locker room, each with the same grim expression, the same look of concentration as they listened “Blazer? Phenomaman? They have hero powers. Strong. Out there for all to see, flying through the sky nothing to hide. I have fucking villain powers. I can turn invisible and sulk in the shadows. Being a villain is my fate. It’s in the fucking stars”
And maybe they needed to hear what Robert had to say just as much as she did.
-
You reveled in the small smile Invisigal sported as she escorted Lightningstruck into the building, in the proud look on her face she tried so desperately to hide as the team greeted her with applause and inappropriate nicknames. A fitting return party for the z-team honestly.
You decided to stay back this time around, letting them have their little moment as a group. They deserved it, they did good work today, in spite of their own best efforts.
You caught Robert’s figure out of the corner of your eye, spying on the festivities from a distance just like you were, a proud smile on his own face that no doubt mirrored yours.
Before you could talk yourself out of it you made your way over to him, settling in alongside him to watch the team celebrate, “so since when are you an astronomer?”
“Ahh so you heard that” You snorted at the dejection in his tone, at the almost exasperation that seeped through.
“Especially liked when you referred to them as alien cum. You’ll have to get me your sources on that one I don’t remember it from science class”
“You doubting my star knowledge” he challenged you with a raised brow, the crinkle in his cheek telling you he enjoyed this verbal sparing as much as you did.
“no no of course not, call it intellectual curiosity” He chuckled warmly at that, settling into the conversation as his gaze cast back out at the team before you. “It was good. Your speech I mean. Even if you didn’t mean for the rest of us to hear it. It was what they needed I think”
“Yeah” he mused softly, “maybe”
“No I’m serious” you cut him off before he could doubt himself too much “I think villainy is something too often they more or less fell into, a pit they couldn’t escape, something they feel destined to do. It’s good to remind them that while doing good is a choice it’s one that’s available to them, and that there’s people on their side ready to help them make it”
He smiled warmly back at you and even if you had really just met this man you already knew where his mind was at, could see his desperate search for something to bring levity to the situation, to break the attention on him “yeah well I yelled at them earlier so this makes up for it I guess”
You snorted at the predictability of it all, shaking your head softly in response “yeah me too, they deserved it”
He physically eased back into the conversation, smile growing a little more relaxed once again just in time for you to ruin it all over again “what I mean to say though is you’re good at that. The pep talk, the bolstering people up thing. It’s a skill not many people have. I knew-“ you practically chocked on the words as they came out, your body forcing a physical stop and you started to realize what you were saying, the way you had so casually brought him up. No guilt, no shame, no pain as you thought of Mecha Man, when was the last time that happened.
Robert’s worried expression knocked you out of your thoughts, his brows furrowed, lips turned slightly down as he seemed to study you for a second, you’d been silent for too long.
“Sorry I just meant I knew someone who was like that once. Could convince anyone that they were the most important person in the world. It’s a nice skill to have”
He still eyed you somewhat skeptically, a small smile growing on his lips but never properly meeting his eyes as he looked at you “I try my best”
Again it was like you could read him like a book, the way he shuffled almost awkwardly on the spot, he seemed almost eager to get out of this conversation as soon as possible, maybe you’d pushed it too far. “Anyways I just wanted to say you did good out there. The team’s lucky to have you”
That seemed to almost calm him on this spot, his smile relaxing as it took root in his expression, lightening his face as he nodded softly at you “you too Y/N”
And maybe your chest felt a little tighter as he said your name, maybe you were still just running on fumes from one of the most exhausting days you’d had in a minute, maybe emotions were just running high after all that had happened. You decided now wasn’t the time to examine it.
Giving him a smile and a friendly nudge with your shoulder you left him to make your way over to the celebrating Z-team, forcing Invisigal into a hug she’d pretend she didn’t want in the first place.
Warnings: None really, small fight scene, very much in line with the show
Author’s Note: Finally we get into the meat of it! This part is told from Robert’s point of view, I like the idea of switching back and forth between the two. It follows the second episode almost perfectly with even some of the dialog lifted from the game so play spot the line where the game’s dialog ends and mine begins! Please let me know what you think all feedback is appreciated and I’m excited to continue on from here!
Also tagging @ohnogovno cause they asked!
Episode 1
Robert never thought he would be here. Not on this couch, not watching a commercial about a woman who is most certainly not making it to band practice, not at SDN.
Not that he truly had anything bad to say about the company itself, it provided a good service, it helped people, it sought to rehabilitate villains, it just wasn’t him.
He was Mecha Man, he had a legacy to fulfil, a path laid out before him, a plan, a suit, you. How had it all gone to shit so quickly.
And there wasn’t anyone to blame but himself, not really. Sure Shroud killed his dad, something he was not soon going to forgive but he was reckless, he was headstrong, he fought with you, pushed you away, refused all of your attempts to reach out, Shroud hadn’t made him do any of that.
To be honest he still wasn’t sure why he did it in the first place, be it guilt or shame or a need to be alone, he supposed it didn’t really matter. The effect was still the same.
“Phenoma-ma-ma-man… he is- he’s like a rockstar” A new voice broke through his concentration, pulling his gaze from the tv he hadn’t realized he’d spent so long staring at to this new figure, a tall lanky kid who seemed to look somehow wet climbing shakily over the back of a nearby chair. It was quite possibly the most awkward display of sitting he’d ever seen.
He knew immediately that you’d love the kid, that you’d take him under your wing without any hesitation, the thought brought a small smile to his face.
He’d been quiet for too long apparently, maybe looked too perplexed by the kid’s entrance it drove him to continue “It’s a- I’m joking, cause of the rock… roll… cool-cool commercial.”
It was with you in mind that he answered “He seems cool… phenomenal even… and quite the salesman”
He watched the kid physically deflate at his response, relax slightly at his kind words even as he continued to ramble, something about eskimos he wasn’t entirely sure. His gaze instead was caught by the untied tie around his neck, by the nervous way he fiddled with it. Before the kid could stop him Robert stood up and sat down beside him, pulling the ends of the tie into his hands to help.
You weren’t here to take this kid under your wing, but he was, so maybe he’d do it for you, his first step in atonement, the first of many.
-
He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting from the records room, in hindsight a dimly lit box full of racks stuffed to the brim with boxes spaced too close together was exactly what he should’ve seen coming.
An old man greeting him by calling him a freckle faced fuck and hugging him however? Surely he could be excused for not expecting that.
That same old man being Trackstar? A guy who, last he remembered, was only ten years older than him? He really never stood a chance with that one.
“It’s been what? Ten, fifteen years?”
He couldn’t help but let his smile dim slightly at that, at the reminder from Chase, at another name to add to the list of people he let down.
“Has it really been that long?” Blonde Blazer broke the moment with her question.
“Yeah I reached out to this little pissant when his dad passed. Then he got to duckin’ me like he owed me money.” He couldn’t help but frown at Chase’s description, at shrinking slightly at the reminder.
“I was in a weird place”
“Dropped me for that girlfriend of yours instead, the other half of your what did they call you dynamic duo? Electrix” Despite everything he was glad to hear the tease in Chase’s tone, to see the small smile on his face as he said it.
“Shut up you know it wasn’t like that, we weren’t like that”
“Deny the relationship but not the fact that I got replaced I see how it is” he shared a look with Blazer, a knowing smirk on his face Robert was more than ready to wipe off before he reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder “I understand kid. It was tough on all of us, so I can’t imagine what you went through. I’m glad you had someone at least”
“Me too” the vulnerable statement had left him before he could stop it, had settled a little too heavily in the air for his liking “yeah so what’s up you gonna tell me why you look like black Einstein?”
A chuckle from Blonde Blazer broke the tension nicely and he was back in safer waters, in a familiar teasing territory, a place he could breathe properly.
It was good with Chase like this, a push and pull, a careful dance around vulnerability that never plunged too deeply into that pit. Chase would tease him about you, he’d tease him about aging too quickly, Chase would bring it home with a joke about killing his dad. He could handle that, despite how appalled Blonde Blazer seemed about the whole thing.
“We joke we laugh we suppress our trauma” an apt summation from Chase “alright let’s introduce you to your team of losers”
Following Chase to the back of the room he sat before a computer that looked older than Chase did as he popped in a floppy disc of all things, the files popping up one at a time beginning with Sonar.
With brief summations from Blazer and colorful commentary from Chase, Robert clicked through each of the team member’s profile, the looming challenge of getting the group’s numbers up growing larger and larger with each quip about their supposed uselessness from Chase.
All until the last file on the screen was revealed and the entire world around him came to a screeching halt.
“I thought you said this was a team of former villains” Blazer furrowed her brow at his comment, leaning in slightly to get a closer look at who’s file he was looking at.
“Did she not tell you she was joining the team as well? We thought hiring both halves of the Dynamic Duo made sense” the name sat like a lead weight in his stomach.
“No she hadn’t. It’s-“ he struggled for the words, for a way to describe the way he had blown up any semblance of a relationship the two of you had once had, because after all what could he say here? That he ghosted the one person there for him after his dad died, that after he lost the suit he no longer felt worthy of any reminder of his days as a hero, that you were better off without him “it’s complicated”
“Trouble in paradise” He chose to ignore Chase’s comment.
Blazer frowned at his explanation, her eyes scanning his form for any more info, for a deeper insight into the situation “if this is going to be an issue we can remove her from the team”
“No” Robert jumped to interrupt “no believe me there won’t be an issue. Even if there was you’re better off removing me from the team than her” He finished his sentence on a mumble, a thought meant to be kept to himself rather than his new boss of one day “does she know? That it’s me”
The look on Blazer’s face was still skeptical, but she shook her head nonetheless “I’d assumed you two would talk. She’ll know of course when you hop on the call but as of right now none of them know who you are, except Invisigal of course”
“she’ll know it’s Robert” He wasn’t sure right now whether he regretted never telling you his real name or not. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of it before, it had remained at the forefront of his mind more than he was willing to admit, but for some reason he always chickened out, always backed down, next thing he knew it had been years and he wasn’t sure how to broach that line again. Maybe he’ll add it to his list of things to apologize for.
“If this is going to get in the way-“
“I promise it won’t” Robert again interrupted her, having at least the dignity to look sheepish about it “you don’t need to worry about me. And you definitely don’t need to worry about her. Things are just-“
“Complicated” Blazer finished with a small smirk that looked much too knowing for his liking.
“Complicated”
A harsh clap of Chase’s hands broke the awkward silence, a gleam in the older man’s eye that spelled trouble for Robert as he harshly landed his hands atop his shoulders “well great now that that’s settled I’ll show you to your desk”
Blazer eyed Chase but acquiesced nonetheless, taking a step back with a nod and a small thank you, leaving the two alone in the dim room.
“Now what was that about”
“It’s-“
“You finish that sentence with complicated I will slap you so hard you’ll be shitting teeth”
With a small push to his arm Chase stormed off and Robert couldn’t help but appreciate the old man, appreciate that he knew how to break the tension, knew when to stop, at least most of the time. He wasn’t sure what he’d do without him.
-
It’d be ridiculous to try and change his voice right?
To pitch it lower just in case. Chase would catch it immediately and he wasn’t sure he was ready to open himself up to all that entailed.
Besides what were the odds you recognized him anyways? By just his voice through a microphone that had to be at least forty years old? And were they greater or worse than Invisigirl snitching on him immediately anyways?
No, no voice change, just him, regular Robert, he could be regular Robert around you. First time for everything right?
“Hey team this is your dispatcher Robert Robertson. I’m starting my first shift-“ he’d barely gotten through his introduction before he was interrupted by nine separate voices cracking up.
“Tell me that’s not your real fuckin’ name” and so it begins.
And he wanted to be annoyed by it, in fact it was easy to be annoyed by it, for this to be his first impression of the team, but there was one thing that kept him from getting there fully. Your channel.
They’d taken the same cover photo from your file and immediately he found himself drawn to it, to the small way your lips perked up a the edges more a hint of a smile than the real thing, the way your chin was lifted slightly in the air almost in triumph, the way your hair billowed slightly as if a small fan had been placed in front of you for the sole reason of capturing this picture.
It was the first he’d seen of you in weeks, he hadn’t prepared himself for how much that’d hurt.
But what had stopped him fully was the way your channel lit up perfectly in time with a small snort, the sort of noise he knew you would have tried so desperately to keep in, he could picture the exact face you’d make as you did it, he’d replay that noise over and over again if he could.
“Shut the fuck up” it was Chase’s exclamation that pulled him fully out of his daydream, pulled his eyes away from your picture for the first time since he had sat down. He’d let himself get distracted; he couldn’t afford to do that again.
The first call popped up on his screen, a child needed his balloon unstuck from a tree, he’d send Coupe.
Work. He needed to focus on work.
He flew through the next few calls, sending out whoever he felt was best suited, working more on instinct than genuine strategy, ignoring the team’s attempts to get under his skin, focusing perhaps a bit too much on how you never truly joined in on that one.
“So Electrix you ever going to tell us what Mecha Man was like” It was Invisigal that chose to address the elephant, of course it was Invisigal.
“Why what do you want to know?” And though you tried to hide it he could hear the dejection in your voice, the automatic dismissal, suddenly this specific office chair became the least comfortable seat in the world.
“You two fuck or what?” He’d never wished so hard for a new call in his life.
“You spend a lot of time thinking about my sex life?” He could hear the smirk in your voice “or maybe Mecha Man’s perhaps”
Invisigal laughed gleefully, a sound the spelled nothing but trouble for Robert “Oh trust me I’ve seen-“
He clicked on the next call the second it popped up, barely listening to the caller before he was speaking “Punch-up, Electrix you’re up”
“On it boss”
And that was it, the first words he’s spoken to you since the accident.
He tried not to dwell on it too hard, tried not to think about you working publicly without him for the first time in years, tried not to react too eagerly when Punch-up was calling him for help seconds after the two of you had arrived.
The two idiots in the bar were fighting over the same name, Punch-up wasn’t sure what to do. He could hear you in the background, the breaking of furniture as you tried to keep the peace. Again he was too focused on you being there, on the sound of your voice, it’s what he told himself to justify what came out of his mouth next “suggest they team up, call themselves the dynamic duo”
He regretted it as soon as it slipped out, could feel himself physically cringe. That was your name, yours and his, what they had called you for years, did he really just offer it up to two drunken idiots like it was nothing?
“No wait-“ he tried to walk it back, but he could already hear you working on it, suggesting the team up to the two of them.
He wondered if it hurt you just as much as it hurt him to hear it again.
Again he was kicking himself, chastising himself for getting too distracted, for focusing too much on one person, he was here to do a job he needed to focus.
Buckling down he noted when the job was done that you were okay then forced himself to move on, deploying heroes who made sense, trying to get you put with each member at least once.
Watching the clock carefully he noted that his shift time was coming to an end here soon, one last call coming in before he could leave, go feed Beef and come up with a better plan on how to handle the whole you situation.
All that had come through on the call was some crashes and Invisigal was already talking “Granny’s? I got this” He could feel his patience wearing thinner by the second.
“Hold up aren’t you banned?”
“Yeah and I’ve got to get unbanned” It was without a question by this point that sending anyone but Invisigal wasn’t an option. It made him wonder if getting fired day one was a dispatcher record.
“Electrix”
“Yeah I’m on it” He couldn’t help but chuckle at the way you were already reading his mind.
With Chase’s help and some blurred legal lines he was tapping into the cameras at Granny’s just in time to see Invisigal materialize at the feet of what looked to be Granny’s dead body “I didn’t do this”
You were already making your way towards the man’s face “Right I feel like you’ve said that a lot in your life. What happened?”
You answered the question before Invisigal could “I’ve got a pulse. Granny’s alive”
“He was laying here when we walked in” Invisigal shrugged as you started to check his breathing “hey what’s your favorite donut?”
Robert couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the question, watching as you did all of the actually useful work as Invisigal surveyed the product instead “can you just focus? What you got ADHD or something?”
“Yes fucker. Is it that obvious?”
“I’m not seeing any serious wounds, my guess is Granny here hit his head” you chimed in just after, seeming to flat out ignore the conversation happening around you while you worked.
“What about you Mrs.Mecha Man you going to answer the question?”
“And give you an obvious open to make fun of me no thanks” He watched you glare the other girl down as you dusted off your hands and stood up straight, taking a look around the room as you did so. “not seeing anything else wrong with the place Robert you see anything?”
He hummed softly into the mic as he scanned the room “It’s looking like a B&E, we should check and see if the perp is still there”
His thought process was immediately interrupted by a sharp snort right in his ear “Perp? B&E? Okay Lieutenant…fuck I can’t think of a character from a cop show”
The sound of your snort came immediately after and Robert knew then he’d lost both of you.
“Cool you two stay and work on that while I get another camera up online” Switching to work on getting himself more access the sound of the two of you in the background remained.
“Dan? Lieutenant Dan? Is that-is that a thing”
“Forrest Gump” You supplied with a snort “He loses both legs”
Leaving the two of you to contemplate what kind of insults you could pull out of legless Vietnam vet Robert hacked into the other security cameras, finding the perfect one back in the kitchen just in time to catch the exact man you were looking for.
“Perp? B&E? Okay Lieutenant Dan”
“Hey shut up for a sec you’re not alone” his voice cut through the laughter immediately “he’s coming your way, armed, you need to disappear”
“Armed with what?” you asked the question and he recognized that tone immediately.
“Electrix not this time the two of you need to get out”
“Robert give us a chance what has he got” Still you refused to give up, he should’ve known you weren’t letting it go just because he said so.
Still watching the perp get closer to the door he made one last ditch attempt, a simple yell of “go now” and Invisigal disappeared on the spot, you having to opt for a quick duck and roll to hide behind the display case.
He watched with bated breath as the man stalked into the main room, clearly weary of the voices he had heard earlier, able to do nothing as he watched a tray of donuts lift themselves into the air before being hurled at the perp.
With a smack of the tray his arm cannon came flying off giving you the perfect opportunity to scootch it back further away from him.
“Goddamnit this bitch is a gusher” she really couldn’t take anything seriously if she tried.
“Electrix, Invisigal he’s still armed. Be careful” he tried nonetheless, knowing neither of you would listen to him properly in this moment.
“I got this Lieutenant Dan” Invisigal assured him smugly, holding the tray over her head ready to deliver a final blow, disappearing with a quick ‘nevermind’ just in time to avoid the blast, leaving you open for the next blow.
You sprung into action as if you had never taken a break from this in the first place, landing an effective punch to his jaw that disrupted his aim and gave Invisigal the perfect opening to land another. The two of you working in surprisingly good tandem sending him over the front counter.
“Got anymore great advice?” Invisigal taunted as she took a second to hit her inhaler, Robert barely able to get out a ‘duck’ before you were tackling her out of the way, the perps next blast blowing a hole through the front door instead. “We need to short out his cannon”
“On it” you called as you pushed yourself off of Invisigal and launched yourself at the man as he shot wildly, grabbing the nearest coffee pot and hurling it at him, the hit sending him down for just long enough you could scrape your fingers alongside the cannon delivering a powerful enough shock to render it useless. Coming to a standstill you sent a cheeky wink at the guy “aw did I break your toy?”
Adapting surprisingly quick the perp hurled himself at you in response sending you crashing into the glass display case and landing a hit to your jaw, not able to get a second one in before Invisigal was pulling him off of you, taking a blow from the side of the cannon in the process.
Robert watched, unable to do anything to help as the two of you scrambled over to the burglar. Landing and taking blows faster than he could keep up with until a sudden blast took the man out of the equation completely, a cloud of dust kicking up as Invisigal caught her breath on the floor and you directed your attention to the sudden new threat.
The cloud cleared to reveal Granny standing across the room, forgotten second blaster in his hands pointed directly at the three of you.
“Granny” Invisigal tried softly, “I don’t think you know how to use that thing so why don’t you-”
“Shut the fuck up” Granny wasn’t taking any chances, pointing the cannon menacingly in the girl’s direction as she scrambled to contain the situation.
“Whoa whoa whoa I’m one of the good guys”
“You? Yeah right don’t fuck with me okay?”
“Really Granny she’s with me” you tried to jump in to help.
“See I’ve even got a babysitter” Granny still wasn’t buying it.
“Invisigal stay calm” Robert tried to contain the situation “Granny doesn’t even know how to shoot that thing, take out the thief first let Electrix disarm Granny”
“You know what it’s my life on the line I’m done listening to you” Robert couldn’t understand why she was so adamant in this moment not to listen to him. You were closer to Granny, you had more experience with loaded weapons like this one, she just needed to trust that you would handle things before Granny could get a shot off.
But of course she was never one to listen.
“Fuck off I’m disarming the device”
“No Invisigal that’s a direct order-“ he’d barely gotten out his command before she was ripping out her earpiece, Robert rendered completely helpless as she turned invisible.
There was a struggle between Invisigal and Granny for the device and you had been prepared to go after Granny and were seconds too late to change gears suddenly thus leaving the perp an opening to fire off a shot with no one there to stop him.
The camera feed shook with the force of the blow, dust kicking up enough to block his view completely sending him scrambling “oh fuck Electrix-Invisigal you there?” There was no immediate response and he was already panicking “Come in Electrix are you alright?”
“We’re fine” it was finally your voice that broke through, a slight strain in it as you worked with Invisigal to lift Granny off of her.
“Yeah I’m fine thanks for asking” He elected to ignore her comment, instead breathing a sigh of relief, taking a moment to collect himself as Invisigal made some joke about Granny’s ass before asking him where the perp was.
“Jesus fucking christ this is a mess” the words escaped him on an exhale, watching carefully as you and Invisigal made your way towards the cops outside of the building thankfully free of any obvious limps even with the smattering of cuts and scrapes you’d acquired.
“This feels like a win to me” He barely let her get the words out before he was ripping the headphones off his head.
-
A twinkie felt like a sad consolation prize given the day he had had. A bourbon felt much more fitting for the occasion.
He watched the snack cake fall with a mundane thunk, giving himself a moment before bending down and retrieving the treat. He’d barely peeled the package open before a surprising ‘hey’ from a annoyingly familiar invisible woman had him jumping hard enough to crush it in the palm of his hand. Honestly he should’ve known better than to let his guard down.
“What kind of superhero flinches” With a scoff he made his way to the table across the room, throwing his ruined twinkies down on the table before melting into the chair “I didn’t say which superhero chill out” Still he tried to ignore her, tried not to raise to the bait, knowing already exactly what she wanted from him “speaking of there seems to be one particular person in here you really don’t want me specifying that information to”
Fuck that bait “what do you want”
“Come on you spend years with a chick and you’re telling me she doesn’t know who you are? What did you guys do it with the suits on”
“We didn’t-“ He dissolved into a frustrated mess on the spot, a groan escaping him as he buried his head in his hands in a desperate attempt to keep from yelling “for the last time it wasn’t like that”
“so what a girl doesn’t put out and so you don’t think she deserves to know who you really are”
“Why are you so caught up on this” he demands with a frown “how does any of this involve you at all”
“Look I just came by to celebrate a job well done” Her hands came up in an appeasing matter, as if those words were meant to calm him down, Robert felt like he was going to explode.
“Look at me. You disobeyed a direct order, you trashed the place, the suspect got away, the client got hurt how can you think this went well”
She had the audacity to scoff at his words, arms crossing defensively over her chest as she fired back “first of all the place was trashed when we got there, I’m sure Granny would take some crispy nuts over losing his arm, and as far as the bad guy…shit happens”
“fact of the matter is that shit didn’t need to happen-”
She came back mirroring his tone perfectly “-Fact of the matter is you’re just mad your girlfriend got a little beat up-”
He steamrolled ahead, unwilling to rise to her bait again “There was an outcome in which we got the perp if you had just fucking listened to me. I make the calls not you”
“You’re behind that desk because you’re no hero. You’re a nerd playing a video game in a suit your daddy built riding off the back of a woman who did the actual hero work who you didn’t even bother to get real enough with to tell her your actual name.”
“The suit isn’t what made me a real hero it was how I did my fucking job that made me Mecha Man and If I wanted advice on how to ‘get real’ with someone I certainly wouldn’t go to the woman who can’t take herself seriously enough to not crack jokes long enough at an active crime scene to actually do her job. My guess is you’re fundamentally incapable of being vulnerable enough to get close to anyone so you are the last person I would go to for relationship advice because you are nothing but a selfish fucking asshole”
It was only in the newfound silence that the actual weight of his words hit him. The stunned, pissed off face of Invisigal enough to tell him he’d taken it too far.
With a dramatic slam of her hands on the table Invisigal stood up, giving him one last glare before turning invisible on the spot.
Hearing the door open behind him he finally let the mask slip, let his shoulders slump in shame as a dejected sigh escaped before a sudden yell in his ear had him jumping, Invisigal suddenly appearing to his right.
“Feel bad? Good fuck you” and that was all the warning he got before she was landing a punch on the side of his face, one last comment tossed over her shoulder as she left “I certainly get now why she wouldn’t”
And maybe he deserved that one.
-
It was an admittedly strange way to end a shift. Not just with Phenomaman inviting him on his and Blonde Blazer’s date before picking her up bridal style and blasting off but rather all of it.
Despite getting hit and Invisigal disobeying a direct order he had hope for the team after his talk with Blazer and Chase. In a weird way he was feeling good about the prospect of the team.
“Were you just invited to be in a threesome with Phenomaman and Blonde Blazer?”
The new voice had him freezing on the spot, as if not moving could make him disappear.
Still you slowly entered his line of sight with a soft smile, a duffle bag thrown over your shoulder and a distinct lack of an eye mask. He’d never seen you without one, it was weird to think just how much it changed you.
“Uh I think so?” The answer only stumbled out of him after he realized he’d frozen for too long, let the silence linger for enough time for it to be awkward.
“wait I know that voice”
The apology was already on his lips, his heart in his throat, he wasn’t even sure yet what he was apologizing for, disappearing after his suit exploded, not responding to any of your calls or texts, not being there when you needed him, his work today, all of it perhaps.
“You’re Robert right my dispatcher”
You’d beaten him to the punch, you always did have a knack for that, but still a part of him knew he should correct you, should properly introduce himself, should bite the bullet and let you chew him out for all that he had done.
“Yeah that’s me” He’d always been a coward when it came to you.
Your smile lit up your face and he couldn’t help but notice how different it was out of costume. He’d seen you smile for the cameras, for innocent bystanders, for kids even eager to meet their hero, he’d yet to see this one however. It was softer, more natural, felt like a natural extension of your features rather than a mask pulled on. “When I look like this I usually go by Y/N” You held your hand out to him casually.
Y/N. It fit you. It fit you perfectly. He wondered if you’d think the same, did this Robert Roberson fit the Mecha Man name. Maybe he once did. “It’s nice to officially meet you Y/N” the dramatic irony of the statement wasn’t lost on him. Another sin to atone for one day perhaps.
“Likewise” You dropped his hand without flourish, moved it back to your duffle, a hero meeting her dispatcher, that’s truly all you thought this was “hey I want to apologize for how the Granny call went today”
God there was no turning it off for you was there. The hero act through and through, picking up other’s mistakes, putting them on your own shoulders without a thought. You’d done that for him once, his dad died and you carried that torch with him without him having to ask. Maybe it wasn’t an act in the end. Maybe once he’d deserved it.
“No that’s not on you”
“I let it get farther than it should have” you cut him off quickly, your words practiced, prepared, he knew that tone, the one you took when you’d so clearly had the same conversation over with yourself before coming to him, a part of him couldn’t help but smile at the familiarity of it “I wanted to give her the chance to make the decision for herself, to do the right thing and someone got hurt because of it, that’s on me”
“That’s not on you” he shrugged off the statement easily “Look we don’t let them make their own decisions then they never learn, they never get the practice of getting off that ‘former villain’ leash, and part of learning is screwing up sometimes. Invisigirl knows she screwed up so she’s going to go sulk for a while then hopefully come back next shift ready to do better”
You eyed him skeptically, arms crossed over your chest, the edge of your lip just slightly tipped up, he hadn’t even realized how much of this familiarity he had been missing “hopefully huh?”
“It’s the best we can do”
A dejected huff left you at that but he could still see the smile on your lips as you shook your head “I’ve never liked leaving thing’s up to chance”
“I know” the words left him before he could truly think through them, a scrunch of your brow all he needed to have him scrambling “I just mean I’ve seen you fight before ya know? Like on the news and they gave me your file when I started. You don’t seem like the kind of person who plays the odds”
A soft chuckle from you had him exhaling, had his heart returning back to a double digit BPM “Maybe for them I will though” your gaze was thrown back behind him at the building “maybe I’m stupid for it but I trust them in the end to do the right thing, to be the heroes they’re all pretending to be right now”
His gaze never once left you “I don’t think that’s stupid”
Your gaze cut back to meet his before immediately dropping to your shoes, a shy smile growing on your face with a soft chuckle “well between the two of us I’m sure we can make it happen” You took a step back, a silent conclusion to the conversation, a soft closing “I look forward to working with you Rob”
The nickname made his chest ache, made the guilt pile in his throat “yeah you too Y/N” made it impossible to move from his spot as he watched you head for the parking lot.
You used to call him Mechy, MM if you were making fun of him, maybe for now he could settle for Rob.
Summary: Reader is a long-time friend of Robert Robertson, better known as Mecha Man, and a close ally of the hero. Or at least was until his suit explodes and he all but ghosts her with no explanation. As a result she joins SDN and the Z-team, working under a new dispatcher who seems weirdly familiar.
Pairing: Robert Robertson x Reader
Word Count: 1.2k
Warnings: None!
Author’s Note: My first dispatch fic! I’m thinking this will be something like a retelling of the story, each part a new episode with the reader inserted in. It will be close to the game at least with plot and even some dialog lifted directly to make it flow nicely but I really didn’t want to sit there copying directly from the script so keep that in mind! This part is more of a teaser than anything, super short we get to the meat of it in the next part which I will post here really soon.
If you’re here from my Pitt fics welcome! Not sure what the venn diagram of fans of the Pitt and people who played dispatch are but hopefully it’s not just me lol. One day I will finish my Jack fic I swear but for now feel free to stick around and enjoy dispatch!
Episode 2
It’d be nice if life could give you a heads up that you were in the ‘good times’. That this would later be the moment you look back upon with reverence and reminisce.
You weren’t asking for much, just a small sign, something to tell you to stop and appreciate what was going on around you, all that you took for granted. Something to warn of the dark cloud looming over the horizon.
It had been like that for you once, had been like that for several years in fact.
You’d grown up idolizing Mecha Man, what kid didn’t, he was larger than life, an ultimate force for good, a bastion of hope even in the darkest of times.
It was terrifying when your powers awakened, to learn you had a secret power within you with no real idea of how to control it. That’s a lot of responsibility to throw on a kid, knowledge that one wrong touch could send someone into cardiac arrest, one static electricity shock could land someone in the hospital, you were just learning how to put the alphabet into math.
But you had Mecha Man to look to, a model to mold yourself after, a promise of who you would become, of what you would use your powers for. One day you were going to be just like him.
Then you met his son. The successor. The heir to the Mecha Man name. He’d needed help on a call, half of the suit wasn’t responding and with the responsible party splitting up and getting away he didn’t have time to figure out why, all he needed was a little jump.
Placing a hand on one arm you sent a bolt through him, enough to jumpstart any unresponsive systems, and before he could say anything told him you’d get the two that ran north leaving him to get the ones going south.
After that you got to meet the flesh and blood Mecha Man, a tall lanky man roughly your age who spilled from the suit with appreciation on his lips, a million thank yous for fixing the suit and for the assist you’d brushed away without a thought. You just happened to be at the right place at the right time anyone else would have done the same.
Still, he asked if he could call you the next time he could use some help, you found yourself going on a lot fewer solo missions after that.
It wasn’t until after you’d realize that those were the good times. Those years spent by Mecha Man’s side, your superhero name synonymous with his, often uttered within the same breath, Mecha Man and Electrix. You weren’t just a team you were a single unit, one couldn’t exist without the other, or so you thought.
Everything changed when his dad died. A lot of it was to be expected, the desire for revenge, the increased ruthlessness, the single focus on getting back at Shroud. You signed up for all of that, eagerly. What you didn’t sign up for was his recklessness. The way he threw himself, and as a result you, into dangerous situations without a full plan, the way it never even seemed to occur to him to proceed in any other way.
Maybe you should’ve taken back some of the things you said to him, should’ve apologized for lashing out the way you did, but you weren’t about to sit there and watch your friend kill himself.
That’s what you considered the two of you at least, friends. What else would you call the man you spent nearly 10 hours a day beside for years? Sure you never really knew who was beneath the mask, but you knew exactly who that man was. You knew of his selflessness, of his loyalty, of his sense of duty. You knew of his biting wit that was sometimes hard to keep up with, of his stubborn pride that made accepting help hard, of his terrible diet that lacked any semblance of a vegetable.
But a friend would call you to tell you they were okay after a very public near death incident wouldn’t they?
Would pick up the phone when you called them at least to say ‘hey I’m alive’ after perhaps their suit explodes over the city skyline for all to see.
Would let you know they were alive before getting in front of a podium at a fucking PR event to tell the world that their suit was broken.
Seems like the very least a friend could do.
You’d left it at a single text after that. A simple glad to see you’re alive.
He left you on read.
Maybe that was really as deep as your relationship ran. Coworkers. He was no longer Mecha Man so you were no longer in the picture.
Still, a heads up would have been nice.
A knock on the door shook you from your thoughts, forced your gaze away from the grout between the tiles for the first time in minutes, forced you to acknowledge the ache in the tops of your thighs from where your elbows dug into them.
Your eyes met Blonde Blazer’s blue ones as she poked her head in the door, a sheepish smile on her face as she greeted you “sorry to interrupt”
You took a look at the empty locker room around you. You weren’t exactly sure what she thought she was interrupting but still you appreciated the gesture. She was nice, or at least so far is nice, that took a little getting used to. “No you’re good, not interrupting”
Her smile softened at that, your response giving her permission to slip fully into the room as she eyed your hunched over form on the bench “wasn’t actually sure you’d show up today”
A hollow chuckle escaped you at her candor, your gaze naturally falling back to the grout “honestly me neither, I’m still not convinced you actually need me”
The corner of her mouth tipped up at that, pity, sympathy, irony, you couldn’t quite place why “we have a new dispatcher starting today, should help get their numbers up but we could still use someone in the field, someone to keep them on track, help remind them what we’re all fighting for”
“a babysitter” you didn’t mean for the words to sound as sardonic as they did.
“A mentor” Her correction was immediate, she’d prepped for this, or maybe she was just that good at her job.
With a loud sigh you finally sat up straight, bringing your gaze back up to meet Blazer’s for the first time since she walked in, putting a soft quirk in your lips to put her at ease “you know there’s a really good chance they do nothing but resent me from the beginning”
“So far you seem too likeable to make that happen”
That finally pulled a laugh from you. It wasn’t big, not nearly as loud or carefree as your laughs had once been, but still it felt good. “It’s time then?”
She nodded, pushing herself off the wall in the process “if you’re ready”
That was the big question wasn’t it. Were you? Had you been standing anywhere else but here with Blazer in this moment the answer would be very different. “yeah I’m ready”
This pulled a grin from the blonde as she grabbed the handle to the door, ushering you forward with a nod of her head “come on then. I’ll introduce you to the Z-team”
Thank you!!!! Coffee Snob definitely grew much bigger than I ever thought it would but it's easily what I'm most proud of and was an absolute blast to write so thank you this means so much to me!!
Please post more stories you are an incredible writer
I will!! I've lost a lot of motivation for writing the stories I've started admittedly but with season 2 here coming up I have hope it'll help. I'm working on something new now, it's not related to the Pitt but still excited. Thank you so much!
Summary: An accident brings Jack and the Reader back together
Pairing: Jack Abbot x Reader
Warnings: Car accident, everyone is totally fine though! Swearing, angst
Word Count: 3.1k
A/N: 2nd part released today!! As always I appreciate all of your comments and thoughts on my work and thank you so much for taking the time to read them!!
Tagging @theereblogger and @realwhoreforfictionalmen (who's ask I missed forever ago I'm so sorry!) and @daydreamingallthetime-world because they asked!
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
“Well if you don’t start using your head before making your own decisions you’re going to end up like him”
Like a clip on replay Jack’s own words haunted his memory in the days after.
He’d tried calling immediately, thought about trying at four am but felt that was cruel at this point rather than endearing so instead he left missed call notifications at normal hours, hours he knew you’d be up getting ready, had even forced himself up three hours earlier than usual in hopes that he could catch you on your way from work.
After two days he’d finally received a text from you.
I’m fine. Please stop calling.
He wasn’t too proud to admit that those words had crushed him a bit, maybe you had somehow sensed that as two hours later you followed it up with I just need some time.
So that’s what he gave you, time. He put down the phone and went about life, pretended that it wasn’t eating him alive inside.
He’d done that before, carried on in spite of the guilt and shame that clawed at his throat, he could do it again.
He went back to what he knew, what was familiar, fell into old habits that had gotten him out of it last time. Had started taking long drives.
It was what he did now. Had gotten into his car when he should’ve been enjoying his day off and instead picked a direction and drove, started taking random turns with no real idea as to where he would end up.
Jack had fully started to let his head wonder on the drive. Had fully let it start to ruminate on the last few days, on the things he said, on the guilt crushing down on his chest. That was the point of the drive afterall, to give him time to digest it all, to think, to do nothing really but think.
It was why he barely noted the broken down car on the side of the road. He already had his blinker on signaling his slight shift into the other lane to get around it, was already putting the wreckage into the back of his mind, when he realized he recognized the person sitting dejectedly on the curb, recognized the kid staring blankly straight ahead.
He slammed on his breaks without thinking, pulling his car off to the side just ahead of the wrecked one and throwing on his hazards.
The car was fully caved in on the passenger’s side, what had happened was obvious, the only question running through Jack’s mind was is the driver okay.
“Jamie?” He approached the kid cautiously, watching as he stared out straight ahead with a blank expression, not a single note of surprise on his face as he pivoted slowly, sluggishly, on the spot to face him.
“Jack?”
“Hey kid” Jack came and bent down slightly in front of him, eyes already assessing, looking for any signs of damage “what’s going on are you okay?”
And from this close he could see the way his hands trembled in front of him, could see the red rim around his eyes, could see just how pale he had grown. He knew the answer to his own question no matter what came out of Jamie’s mouth next.
“I’m fine” he shook off the question numbly, eyes unfocused as his gaze went past him rather than to him “some guy-uh- ran a stop sign, hit me hard enough to push me into the ditch then drove away”
Jack could feel his teeth ache with the way he clenched his jaw, tamping down his anger for the moment, knowing it wasn’t what the situation needed now, what Jamie needed now “Okay did you call the police?”
The kid nodded slowly, still not focusing completely “they came and talked to me, I told them what I could remember”
“And then they what just left you?” The question came out on a scoff before he could swallow it back, sounding much more angry, more bitter than he meant it to.
“Told them I was fine” Jamie shrugged despite the fact that anyone with two braincells to rub together could tell that he wasn’t.
“What about paramedics?” Jack asked hopefully “they check you out?”
Jamie only shook his head as Jack swallowed back the curse that grew in his throat “Do you mind if I do it then? Got my bag in my car”
And for a while Jamie said nothing, just stared blankly ahead, long enough that Jack started to doubt if the kid even properly recognized that he was there before he suddenly answered, a small, hoarse “sure”
With a relieved nod Jack offered his hand to the kid, pulling Jamie up easily and leading him back to his truck with a hand on his back. Having him hop up onto the bed of the truck Jack started to run through his quick check, checking his heart rate, his breathing, his pupil dilation, all with Jamie complying wordlessly, a far cry from the loud kid he had met weeks ago.
“Alright you seem fine to me” Jack conceded softly, dipping his head slightly to properly catch Jamie’s eyes “you call your mom yet?”
That seemed to snap him out of it, his eyes going wide as they finally properly connected with Jack’s, a hand shooting out to grab the front of his shirt desperately “you can’t call her”
“Jamie” Jack sighed, the desperate kid cutting him off quickly
“Please she has an interview today about a promotion it’s a big deal you can’t-“
“I’m sure she’d rather know that you’re okay” Jack tried again, Jamie shaking his head quickly in response.
“No-she-just-“ he stuttered out, every thought flooding his brain at once as his mouth tried desperately to keep up. Jamie took a deep breath as he attempted to keep just one train of thought straight “she’s going to be so upset, and so emotional and worried and I can’t” he sighed again as his voice wobbled, setting his jaw as he fought through it “I can’t deal with her emotions on top of mine right now”
And Jack could understand that, having met Marnie only once he had no doubt Jamie was right in his assessment, but he couldn’t well leave the kid on his own “what if we called Y/N”
Jamie studied him for a moment, clearly trying to decide if Jack was telling the truth or not, debating for a moment before retracting his hand with a small nod “yeah okay”
“Good” Jack watched the way his hands still shook from his lap, wondering what was going to start to hurt once the shock wore off “stay here I’ll go give her a call”
Jamie nodded slowly at the instruction and Jack left him with a pat on his knee, heading to the front of his truck to grab his phone and dial your number, a part of him worrying that you would see his contact info and choose not to answer in the first place.
Luckily after three short rings you proved him wrong as you picked up with a sighed “Jack” in his ear.
“I’m with Jamie” he cut in before you could get any further into telling him to fuck off.
“What?” a new edge found its way into your voice as he heard you sit up straighter, heard the couch creak underneath you as you shifted.
“Came across him on the side of the road” Jack explained trying desperately to keep his voice soft “some asshole t-boned him”
“Oh my god” he could hear you scrambling to your feet, the jingle of your keys, you were already headed out your door.
“Jamie’s fine” he cut in quickly “not a scratch on him”
And even as he heard your relieved sigh you seemed to ignore the words entirely “where are you?”
“Corner of stone and coffee” he answered easily, eyeing the street signs at the intersection.
“Okay I’m five minutes away”
“Hey I’ve got him” Jack cut in before you could hang up “he’s fine I’ll be here with him the whole time so you be careful okay? Drive safe”
And he could hear you take a deep breath at that, could hear the way it stuttered slightly on the way out before you answered “Yeah okay. I’ll see you soon”
“I’ll see you soon” Hanging up he made his way back around the truck to where Jamie still sat “she’s on her way”
Jamie nodded at the news, looking back at him almost hesitantly before asking “did she sound mad?”
Jack scoffed at the question “of course she didn’t sound mad”
Jamie eyed him skeptically.
“You know this isn’t your fault right?” Jack asked him with a frown “the other guy blew a stop sign then ran, he was the one that fucked up not you”
“But if I-“
And Jack didn’t hesitate to cut him off there, having been on the wrong end of too many what if cycles himself to know it never led to anywhere good “you can’t prevent every bad thing from happening, no matter how prepared you try to be trust me” he paused for a second, let his words sink in before continuing “and even if it was entirely your fault both Y/N and your mom’s first priority is going to be making sure you’re okay”
He watched Jamies throat bob as he swallowed, the kid taking a second to digest Jack’s words before nodding softly. He at least seemed to accept somewhat that it wasn’t his fault and at that Jack decided to let it stew, to let the silence stretch for a bit before he was unable to help himself.
“She seemed more worried than anything”
Jamie snorted at that “that sounds like her”
And Jack couldn’t help but smile softly back at that, it was afterall true.
“I used to call her when I got in trouble at school instead of my mom” he offered up with the ghost of a smile “I just knew that no matter what, even if I was in the wrong, she’d be on my side”
Jack chuckled fondly at that, at the mental image of you vehemently defending Jamie in the principal’s office without question “this is no different than that, no matter what she’s on your side”
The two of them looked up at the sound of another vehicle approaching, your car pulling in right behind Jamies and your form scrambling out of the driver’s seat barely waiting for the car to fully go into park.
Jamie was pushing himself off the bed of the truck the second he recognized you, sprinting towards you as you met him halfway, the two of you crashing together beside Jamie’s car in a tight hug.
From where he leaned against his own truck Jack could hear the million whispered sorrys Jamie gave you as you held him tightly, watched as you soothingly ran your fingers through the hair at the base of his neck as you shushed him softly.
The two of you stayed like that for a few seconds, long enough Jack almost started to feel awkward just watching you before you carefully pulled back from him, your hands going to either side of Jamie’s face as you forced him to look at you, Jamie’s hands encircling your wrists to make sure you didn’t go too far as he finally broke down in sobs “I’m sorry I’m sorry I didn’t see him coming”
“shhhh Jamie it’s okay” you tried but Jamie wasn’t having any of it.
“I should’ve stopped and now the car is ruined”
“That’s okay”
“Mom saved up for so long to get that car and I destroyed it”
“Jamie I don’t give a fuck about the car” you finally yelled back, forcing Jamie out of his cycle, forcing him to finally look at you, properly look at you “are you okay?”
Jamie nodded with a sniff.
“Nothing hurts” you pressed “not bleeding anywhere?”
Jamie shook his head as you let out a relieved sigh, your shoulders dropping as you pulled him into another bone-crushing hug as you whispered back into his chest “that’s all I care about okay? We’ll deal with the car later”
Jamie hugged you back eagerly, the two of you rocking back and forth for a bit longer before you broke the silence “do you want to go back to mine?”
“Yeah” Jamie answered without much thought making you laugh wetly before pulling back from him.
“Good. Go ahead and get in my car let me just talk to Jack real quick, okay?”
Jamie nodded again at that, gladly making his way back to your car and planting himself in the passenger seat as you watched him, not moving from your spot until you confirmed he was safely in your car.
“He says he’s fine” you turned to address him, making your way closer to Jack, avoiding looking at the car altogether “but could you check him out to make sure?”
“Already done” he answered quickly “he seems good for right now, nothing serious at least”
“good” you sighed, rubbing tiredly at your eyes “that’s good”
Letting your hands drop you finally turned back to take a look at Jamie’s car, Jack picking up the sharp intake of breath as you inspected the damage “the other guy?”
“Apparently took off after it happened” Jack shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest “Jamie says he already talked to the police about it”
“fuck” you swore under your breath as you shook your head as well “I should call a tow then, hopefully they can get one out here soon”
Jack shook his head at that “don’t worry I’ll handle that”
Your head snapped to him quickly with a frown “you don’t have to-”
“I’ve got it” he tried to assure you softly.
“It could be a while before they can come out you don’t need to-“
“You know most people-“
“Don’t you fucking dare” and despite everything there was a laugh in your voice as you said it. It was thick and hoarse, but it still brought a smile to Jack’s face as you said it.
“Get him home” he gestured back towards your car with a nod “he needs distraction, or a nap, I’ve got the car”
You studied him for a moment, clearly debating whether to push it further or not, before nodding “yeah okay”
He smiled again at that “His shock’s likely to wear off here soon so if anything starts to hurt go to the Pitt and ask for Robby, he’s working today”
You nodded at that, looking back at Jamie in the front of your car, and Jack caught the way your breathing hitched, the way your chest heaved as it got quicker, sharper. “Sweetheart-“ it was all he got out before you were burying your face in his chest. He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms securely around you in response.
“He’s fine” he tried to assure you with soft whispers into your hair, his words only causing your arms to tighten around his middle even further.
“no I know I know” you kept repeating the words wetly into his chest, as if you were convincing yourself rather than him but Jack let you, let you hold on for as long as you needed to, more than content to whisper soft reassurances into the crown of your head as he rocked the two of you softly, letting you go only when you started to pull back first.
“Fuck I’m sorry I-“ you brought up your hands to wipe away the tear stains on your cheeks, but Jack beat you to it, his hands softly cupping your cheeks as his thumbs wiped at the wetness, his head dipping slightly to properly capture your gaze in his.
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for you hear me” he gave you a second as he said it, a moment to let it properly sink in.
Finally you nodded slightly, Jack taking that as a sign for him to drop his hold on you, relishing the fact that you didn’t back up when given the opportunity, choosing to stay within his personal space for a little longer.
“I know you said he was fine on the phone but I just-“ you hesitated on your next words, taking a second to take a deep breath, your next words leaving on a stressed chuckle “I was so scared”
“Someone you care about was in trouble, it’s completely valid to freak out about that” he reminded you softly, adding on at the last minute with a quirk of his lips “I know the feeling”
You mirrored the uptick in the corner of his mouth without thought, taking a moment to study him before giving his arm a grateful squeeze, gaze cutting back behind you to check on Jamie.
“I think I’m going to set up a movie. We’ll probably do a Disney marathon or something easy but if you’re not doing anything-“ you let the end of your sentence hang, a hesitant tenseness in your expression as you left the invitation more or less unsaid.
Jack barely had to think before responding “I’ll grab popcorn after the tow gets here”
The comment earned him a soft smile, the first one he had gotten from you in days “and m&m’s?”
“Don’t tell me you’re the type of person who pours them into the popcorn”
“salty and sweet is the supreme flavor combination and I will die on that hill” the teasing was weak, especially given the slight wobble still present in your voice but it was good, it was familiar, brought an easy smile to his face.
A huff of a laugh escaped you at the sight of it as you took a single step backwards, hesitation clear in your very posture even as you did so “I’ll see you soon yeah?”
“I’ll be there” he assured you quickly.
But still you seemed to hesitate, to doubt yourself for a second before suddenly making up your mind.
Before he could even comprehend what was happening you were bounding up to him, one hand coming up to his cheek to hold him in place while the other planted itself on his chest, his every sense overwhelmed with the sudden appearance of you directly in front of him that he barely got to pay attention in the moment to the soft press of your lips to his other cheek before you whispered “thank you Jack, really”
And as quickly as you had come you were gone, making your way back to your car without looking back at him, Jack rooted on the spot as his brain short circuited.
It wasn’t until your car had completely disappeared from view that he even remembered why he was standing on the side of the road in the first place.
Warnings: Angst, I promise I'll fix it soon tho! Swearing, bar fight, medical inaccuracies
A/N: I'm back! There's another part that will be posted right after this! I wanted to resolve the angst immediately but I think the story flows better with a physical break between the two parts so the next one is being posted separately. As always I love love love every message comment and funny tag these get thank you so much for reading my little writings!!
Tagging @theereblogger and @realwhoreforfictionalmen (who's ask I missed forever ago I'm so sorry!) and @daydreamingallthetime-world because they asked!
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
The universe must have it out for you because of course it was his shift. Of course this couldn’t just be a perfunctory checkup. Of course you couldn’t just deal with this once and bury it within you after a few days.
If it were up to you you’d be at home, an icepack and some bandages and you would be fine.
But Audrey had descended upon you the minute the other guy went down, a string of admonishments spewing from her lips even as she checked you over, the bartender more than used to performing checks for a person’s state of mind. She hadn’t even given you a choice before she was ushering you into the passenger seat of her car.
Even then there was some hope that you could get in and out of the PTMC without seeing Jack. Yes he was on shift but at worse you needed a few stitches, no reason to get the attending put on your case.
But of course Jamie had made an impression on your last visit. Word of your existence and clearly spread through the staff and word of your arrival spread just as quickly. You’d barely made it into a chair in the waiting room before the loud banging of the door that lead back to the pitt drew the whole crowds’ attention as a very stern looking Dr. Abbot strode quickly through it. Making a beeline for you.
His hands were everywhere, adjusting your head to get a look at your neck, twisting your wrist to see your forearm, digging into your skin to check your pulse.
The lights, the people, the stares it was all too much but just as you were about to ask him to take you back the city’s resident asshole decided to speak up.
“Are you fucking kidding me that bitch breaks my nose and yet she gets seen first?”
You could see in the set of his jaw that Jack knew exactly who he was talking about but he altogether ignored him, pulling a penlight out of his pocket and lifting your head by the chin to shine it into your eyes.
“My head’s fine Jack just the arm” you grumbled but he ignored you too, checking your pupils for dilation without a word before sending a look to the woman at the desk that must have told her all she needed.
“This is unbelievable doc can you even hear me” the same man grumbled from across the room, glaring daggers in your direction as Jack ushered you forward, sending a glare right back at the man behind him even as he headed for the door.
“Another word and you’ll wish I hadn’t” He tossed the threat over his shoulder before letting the door shut behind him, leading you and Audrey back to a room.
He gently ushered you onto the end of a bed with a hand at the small of your back, making sure you were stable before setting up a tablet and starting to take notes, his posture surprisingly tense given how light he tried to make his tone “now tell me what’s wrong”
“It’s just-“ you tried to assure him, but Audrey cut you off with a glare.
“Bastard got her with a beer bottle gave her that slice in her arm” she explained with arms crossed over her chest “had his hands around her throat at one point but I think just left bruises, also hit her head on the counter but I don’t think it was hard enough to give her a concussion”
Jack nodded gratefully even as you watched him tense further, heard the clicking of keys get slightly louder with each word. “Good. The cut will need stitches, nothing we can do about the bruising, and the pupil dilation is good but we’ll a head CT just to make sure”
“I don’t need-“
“we’re doing a head CT” Jack cut you off without looking at you, finishing the last of his typing before pushing himself back from the computer and coming to stand in front of you, giving you a quick glance over before turning his gaze to Audrey “what happened tonight”
You held back your scoff from the way they both cut you out of conversation.
“The charmer out there didn’t know how to take no for an answer. Was a girl who was barely 21 he just kept getting closer and closer to. I was getting ready to grab the bat under the bar-” you could hear the anger in her voice as she answered him, could see it in the way her arms tightened around herself, but even then the corner of her mouth flicked up in an almost proud smirk as her gaze cut down to you “when Ms. knight in shining armor herself placed herself between the two, got right up in that fuckers face and told him to back off.”
You loved Audrey, were extremely grateful that she left work to take you to the hospital, but you had never wanted to her to shut up so badly in your life. Especially as you watched Jack’s knuckles turn white as he clenched his fist at his side.
“Neither of them would back down until he was grabbing at her throat and trying to throw her around. All it took for him to go down though was a kick in the balls and a punch in the nose” she sent you a wink at that, as if she were helping you in this moment.
Jack’s gaze whipped around to you, pinning you in place with a raised brow, a dare or perhaps a plea to contradict her, to tell him you hadn’t done something that stupid, that reckless.
You cut in before any more damage could be done “Audrey I think I’m good here you can go back to work, no reason for me to take up your whole shift”
She frowned slightly at that “are you sure? I don’t mind. I was going to make sure you got home okay”
You smiled at that, reaching out to squeeze her arm affectionately, catching Jack from the corner of your eye start to set up a suture kit for you “I promise I’m good thank you” you assured her softly, feeling the need to keep going as her skeptical gaze continued to pin you in place “Jack knew my brother I trust him”
“I’ve got her” Jack jumped in solemnly, sending a small nod in promise to Audrey as he snapped on some gloves.
“Alright if you insist” she smiled back at you, giving you a one armed side hug quickly in goodbye “promise you’ll call me tomorrow though, let me know you’re okay”
“Yeah I will” you promised back easily, watching her slip out of the room, leaving you alone with Jack and a crushing silence that threatened to suffocate you.
Jack took a seat on a roller stool and came up in front of you, nodding slightly to your arm “let me see it” his voice was soft, not in a cautious sense but rather in a dejected one. You could practically feel the distance being placed between you.
You placed your arm in his hand and he cradled it carefully, giving It soft twists to inspect the deep gash with a small frown “I promise it looks worse than-“ he silenced you with a glare through his lashes, the frown on his face telling you now was not the time to shoot for levity.
You could feel the tension swell in the room. A powder keg about to explode. You really didn’t want to be around when it finally happened.
“I didn’t know you took any classes on fighting” He forced a casual tone but you could feel the emotion simmering just beneath the surface, knew that your answer. just as he did, was going to be the thing that forced it to the surface.
“I don’t”
His gaze finally snapped to yours, letting your arm drop softly from his grasp as he backed up slightly clenching his jaw in response “then why the hell are you the one getting involved in this”
“It was just a drunk guy he was being an ass” you tried to deflect, tried to brush off his anger.
“And is this the drunk guy three beds over who’s got at least a foot and two hundred pounds of muscle on you?” The question was rhetorical; you both knew it was but still his pointed glare and raised brows told you he was waiting for confirmation.
“He was drunk and harassing a girl at the bar what was I supposed to do just let it happen?” You knew it was the wrong answer the minute it left your lips.
“You let some other guy in his weight class deal with it, you let the bar owner deal with it, you let the cops deal with it” he dramatically listed off other options, your patience wearing thinner and thinner the longer he went on.
“I just told him to fuck off it wasn’t that big of a deal”
“You’re in the hospital getting stitches” he pointed out “that is the definition of a big deal”
“And so is he” you countered with an almost triumphant air “clearly I held my own”
“This” he seethed as he pointed down to your arm “is not holding your own this is getting lucky”
You responded with a roll of your eyes, something Jack clearly didn’t miss as he ducked down slightly to catch your gaze, to get more up in your face, to force you to look at him.
“No don’t blow this off I need you to know just how badly this could have gone for you”
“I get it” you tried to deflect, tried to shut down the conversation but Jack wasn’t having it, refusing to move from your space as he continued.
“if you had been cut in the wrong place, if you had hit your head a little harder, if he had been just a little angrier a little drunker do you know how tonight could have ended”
“okay you’re being a little dramatic”
With a loud exhalation he backed off from you, not to give you space but rather to give himself some as he crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at you “I’m an ER doctor I see shit like that happen way too often and I’m not just letting it happen to you” he took a pause, a brief breath before speaking again, quiet enough you weren’t sure it had been meant for you “I’m not going through that again”
The words had you puzzled initially, your brow furrowing as you digested them before it suddenly clicked, their meaning settling in your gut like a weight “you mean my brother”
His jaw clenched as he looked back at you but he didn’t answer, didn’t need to.
A hollow, sarcastic laugh left you as you shook your head, almost chastising yourself for not seeing it earlier “Am I just a stand in for him?”
Jack’s gaze darkened at your question, his arms tightening around his chest as he glared at you “that’s not fair”
“You’re right it’s not” you conceded quickly “I’m my own person. I can make my own decisions. I’m not your second chance. I’m not my brother”
“Well if you don’t start using your head before making your own decisions you’re going to end up like him”
You could see the regret wash over Jack in real time, could pinpoint the exact moment his brain caught up with his tongue.
“fuck” the curse slipped out under his breath as his chest deflated.
“Yeah” The anger within you had evaporated, leaving your tone empty and tired.
“Sweetheart-“
But you weren’t going to let him get any further “I guess this makes us even then? We’ve each leveraged his death to hurt the other now”
“I don’t want us to be even” His voice was soft, remorseful, you weren’t sure you’d ever heard Jack sound so small before “I don’t want there to be a score in the first place”
“Yeah well” you shrugged him off, fixed your gaze on the wall next to you.
“Y/N”
“Finish what you started Jack” you had meant it to sound like a dare, like a threat, but the sharpness was long gone “I slammed the door in your face last time”
“Please” Jack pleaded with you softly, “don’t” he took a tentative step towards you, craning his neck trying to capture your gaze “Sweetheart”
“Leave Jack”
“Please just let me-“
You whipped your head around to fix your glare on him, Jack physically recoiling slightly from the sudden movement “I need you to go Jack before I say something I regret”
“Say whatever you need to I’ll just sit here in silence” he tried desperately “won’t say anything until you’re ready”
A bitter chuckle left you on your exhale as you dug your fingers into your eyes, desperately trying to fight off the exhaustion “We both know you don’t do silences well Jack”
“I can” he protested eagerly “I can try. Just please let me stitch you up”
And finally you let your mask slip, let your hands fall from your face, and properly looked Jack in the eye, ignoring how small your voice sounded as you spoke “Jack please”
But still he took a second, stayed frozen in place as he studied your face, eyes dancing around your expression before he deflated “yeah. Yeah okay. I’ll send in Robby to patch you up”
You didn’t answer him, didn’t move your gaze from the spot even as he vacated it, listening to him pause before he reached the curtain.
“Just call me” his words came out hesitantly “please. Or send a text, let me know you’re okay”
“Okay” the words left your lips before you could decide if they were a lie or not.
-
Jack has dealt with your anger before.
He’s spent years knowing that you hated him. That you resented him. That you blamed him.
And every time he has deserved it. So why did it feel different this time?
He’d managed to catch Robby on the roof before he left for the day, the day-shift attending agreeing to take your case without a question, he probably assumed in the moment Jack had stepped back for sentiment’s sake, because the rule was you don’t operate on people close to you.
He supposed Robby would learn the real reason here soon enough.
The evidence of what had gone down between the two of you was easy enough to read on your face, in the sheen in your eyes as you held back tears, in the clench of your jaw as you bit back your tongue, in the half-moon scars on your palms from clenching your fists.
God why had he said that.
He knew you weren’t just a stand in for your brother, god did he know you were more than a replacement.
Sure it was nice to have someone who knew him like Jack did, more in fact than Jack did, to get to share stories with someone who could actually appreciate them properly, to hear about different sides of the man he had went through hell and back with, but his relationship with you went beyond that, or at least Jack thought it did.
Did you think Jack was more than just a resource?
He liked spending time with you, meeting you for breakfast after his shift. He never liked doing anything after his shift, he felt gross and tired, the stress weighing on him physically, the ache in his prosthetic begging him to sit down. He always opted to pass out the minute he got back from work. It was part of the reason he always liked the night shift, can’t ruminate on anything if you’re too tired to think.
But you had proposed breakfast and he couldn’t say no to you. He’d already fucked up by not calling you even after you asked him too, Robby and Dana had made sure he knew how big of a mistake that was; all this on top of the fact that you had gotten up at 4 in the morning just to answer his call. He had to say yes he owed it to you, owed it to himself.
But god he hadn’t expected to have enjoyed it so much, talking to you came easy, you drew more smiles and laughs out of him than he gave anyone over the course of a week like it was nothing.
It was nice to reminisce for once, actually look back on his time fondly and without regret, without guilt, without even a trace of melancholia. It was nice to talk about something that wasn’t work, to feel the stress lift off his shoulders even just a little. It was nice to feel like a human rather than a ghost masquerading as one.
He needed to talk to you.
If he could just apologize properly, get you to see that he didn’t look at you and see your brother, get you to see that he thought of you as more than a physical embodiment of his own mistakes, get you to see that he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to go on if he lost those mornings at the diner with you.
You’d made it clear that you didn’t want to talk to him right now which was fine, it was fair, Jack didn’t blame you for one second for that.
The idea that you could say anything to him in that moment that would have him turning his back on you now was a different story but that was a bridge he’d burn when he got there.
Right now he just needed to get close to you, needed to exist in the same space with you, needed you to see that he wasn’t going anywhere, that he was sorry, even if it wasn’t with words.
Your friend had left, Audrey Jack thinks her name was but to be honest it’d been hard to focus on anything but the bruises on your neck, you needed a ride home.
That was his in, he’d ask Robby to stick around for a little longer while he took you home.
With a plan in motion Jack made his way back down to the Pitt, barely acknowledging any of the looks thrown his way by the nurses as he passed, pointedly ignoring the board in the center of the room reminding him he had an actual job to do, and instead cut immediately to the room he had brought you into, His speech trying to persuade you to let him take you home already halfway formed in his head, when he came to a screeching halt a the sight of a nurse setting up a completely patient-less room for the next person.
His mind took a second to process what he was seeing, his mouth working faster than anything as it started to ask the question before the words had even formed “where’s-uh-where’s the patient that was in this room?”
The nurse raised a brow at his stutter as she paused what she was doing, taking a second to look him over before answering “the girl who needed stitches? Discharged, I think Robby took her home”
Hi babe! Unsure if you do taglists but if you do, would you mind adding me to Robby and Jack’s? Loooooove the new Jack series!!!!
I'm so sorry I missed this for so long! I will absolutely tag you in future projects! Thank you so much for reaching out I'm really glad to hear that!!
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