robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, dropping beef off at chase's cubicle before making a detour to the coffee machine in the breakroom, then sits down at his desk. when he looks up, he can see a bunch of thin cracks in the wall. ugh. maintenance must be slacking.
the z-team is being a nuisance, like usual, but robert gives as good as he gets. if the insults are a little more pointed today, he doesn't pay attention to it. if the team is acting a little odd, he blames interpersonal drama. he waits until midday, when the team comes back to the office, then chews them out for their performance. like usual.
he gets into an argument with invisigal, which is nothing new, but she seems oddly disinterested, her insults particularly mean. maybe she's having a bad day? he tries to ask prism, but she ignores him in favor of her phone. the team is acting weird.
punch up seems to be in a bad mood too, for some reason. coupe isn't at the office at all. flambae gets so mad about his missing noodles he kicks a dent in the fridge and swipes everything off the counter, then threatens to burn robert when he says something about it. sheesh.
sonar is the only one left in the breakroom as robert stands among the mess. he says robert's name, trying to get his attention, but when robert answers, sonar doesn't seem to hear him.
"robert?" sonar asks again.
"yes, sonar, i heard you the first time."
"robert? can you hear me?"
robert looks at him, confused, and a little annoyed. they're standing only a few feet from each other. "what the fuck is it, sonar?"
"robert?" sonar sounds... worried. "robert, can you hear me?"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, dropping beef off at chase's cubicle before making a detour to the coffee machine in the breakroom, then sits down at his desk. there's a bunch of thin cracks in the wall. ugh. maintenance must be slacking.
the z-team is barely listening, abandoning tasks and sniping back at him. they keep calling him weak, annoying, useless, they ask for another dispatcher. robert doesn't know what crawled up their ass and died this morning, but it's annoying as fuck. he thought he built a better relationship with them. he feels a headache come up.
during lunchtime, sonar and coupe get into an argument, but when robert tries step in, they turn it on him. flambae has decided robert stole his noodles, and shoves him hard into the counter. fantastic.
he tries to talk about it with chase, voicing his complaints about the z-team. chase tells him they should have cut all of them and thrown them in jail a long time ago. it's... a weird answer, it rubs robert the wrong way. they've made a lot of progress, right?
"you're gonna end up like your father," chase says, "he was just as indecisive. and look where that got him."
robert feels stunned. he can barely get his reply out. "what?"
chase is quiet for a moment. his brows knit to a frown. he looks up. "robert. you have to--"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, dropping beef off at chase's cubicle before making a detour to the coffee machine in the breakroom, then sits down at his desk. when he looks up, he sees the cracks are bigger, webbing out. is maintenance not going to fix that?
the z-team is chaos, shouting over each other, like the loudest voice will win. sonar keeps diverting his course. invisigal refuses every task. prism doesn't stop calling him a bitch, and flambae joins in. he can't reach blond blazer. waterboy stutters so bad he's unintelligible. robert's headache is getting worse.
conversation falls quiet when he enters the breakroom during lunchtime. the z-team ignores him, for some reason. he wasn't even that hard on them. golem shoves him over, and everyone laughs. robert is about to get back at them, when invisigal appears and pulls him out of the room. she seems nervous.
"this team is driving me up the wall," he says. "glad to see you've decided to be less of a pain today."
invisigal looks at him, intently, like she has trouble seeing him. "robert. you have to wake up."
robert huffs out a humorless laugh, holding up his paper cup of coffee sludge. "working on it."
"no, robert," she says. "this isn't--"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors, greets the receptionist, then goes to drop beef off at chase's desk. but he's stopped before he can put his chubby pet down.
"keep the dirty mongrel with you," chase tells him. "don't want his filth at my desk."
robert stands there, mouth open. "excuse me? what the fuck did you just-"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert enters through the double doors and greets the receptionist, who doesn't greet him back. it's quiet at the office. he drops beef off at chase's cubicle. his headache is worse, throbbing. he foregoes the coffee.
the cracks are bigger, drywall is flaking out. nobody else seems to care.
the intercom doesn't work, or maybe it works, but no one answers. robert presses the buttons, talking into the mic. only after a few minutes does the team come in, and robert lets them know they're late. it gets him an avalanche of noise and cussing for his troubles. it worsens his headache.
malevola's mic crackles, pitched with static. she tries to say something, but no matter which buttons he presses, he can't hear her.
during lunchtime, robert tells the team to get their shit together. they don't take it well.
"who the fuck do you think you are? you fucking stuck-up asshole."
"that's rich coming from the whiny bitch who can't even function without his daddy's robot suit."
his headache pulses. "shut up."
"you're just jealous because you fucked up your father's legacy. crawling over here to beg for handouts. you'll never live up to him, everyone knows that."
"useless. so useless. what do you even hope to achieve? fucking nothing."
"you're worthless, a waste of fucking space. should have done everyone a favor and died right, mecha failure."
robert's head throbs. he balls his hands to fists. "shut the fuck up."
"robert?"
he turns.
prism is looking at him. her form seems to waver a bit, like shimmery light. "robert?"
robert stares at her.
"robert, listen to me, you're--"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert's headache is worse. he walks up to chase's cubicle, but chase doesn't look at him, doesn't say anything. robert's hands are empty. he doesn't know why he went there in the first place. he sits down at his desk. his head hurts.
the cracks are big, very big, all over the wall. something drips out of it, some black kind of liquid. it looks almost like blood.
the z-team is being destructive; they bust up the piping system of a building, destroy a shop to stop robbers, mess up a public speaking conference. flambae is inactive, nobody tells him why. he's pretty sure some of them are drunk. they don't listen to him.
robert leans down to pet beef, but beef isn't there. he tries to ask chase, but there is no answer.
the doors to the office space bust open, slamming the walls. flambae storms in, tearing between the cubicles with a kind of reckless disregard that is unusual, even for him. robert is fed up. he's angry, his head hurts, he's tired.
he shoves away from his desk. "what the fuck do you think--"
flambae stops right in front of him, the look on his face is... off. worried, almost. he looks harried. somehow, his suit is even stranger against the office backdrop than normal, like it doesn't quite fit.
"wake up, robert, fuck!" flambae snaps. he reaches out his hands, but it's like he can't quite reach robert. "it's not real! it's killing you! none of this is--!"
>>>
it's a normal day at the SDN office.
robert sits in his chair. the cracks have reached the floor. he thinks his nose is bleeding, but he isn't sure. blood drips all over his keyboard. it's black. he can't find beef. chase still doesn't talk to him.
blond blazer is standing beside him. the look in her eyes is disappointed. "i thought you'd be better than this," she says. "we needed a hero. a real one."
"i am," robert says. "i am a real hero."
she shakes her head. "you failed. you're not enough."
during lunchtime, the breakroom is empty. he makes his coffee alone, takes one sip, then empties it in the sink and dumps the cup into the trash.
flambae is leaning against the counter. "i am going to break all of your teeth, mecha bitch," he says. "you are gonna wish you died when your trash suit fell out the sky."
"we went over this, flambae," robert says. "stop, or i will--"
"no one will help you," flambae continues, "such a nuisance. i will do everyone a favor by finishing what your cowardly ass started. everyone will be better off."
"yeah, well, get in line," robert says. he can't come up with something better. his mind feels like sludge.
flambae huffs. "better if you saved me the trouble and did it yourself."
they stand in silence for a moment. robert is leaning back on his good leg, leaving his side open in case he needs to duck and throw a punch. nothing. flambae stares at the ground, like he's thinking.
"this is not good, bob-bob," he says then, soft, his tone a 180 from a minute ago. he looks up. "just don't listen to... don't listen, okay?"
robert huffs. "when do i ever?"
flambae looks sad. robert doesn't think he's ever really seen that before. for a moment, it seems like flambae wants to say more.
