#dispatch fic prompt

[marciellesmusings]

Dispatch Fic Prompt #10

I need a million fics of the z team realising what a mess Robert is and trying to help.

Flambae would try to feed this skinny white boy and would bitch about it the whole time - But he would still do it "but not because I care, bitch. I just can't stand to look at that flat ass anymore - it's getting depressing, Robert."

Prism would try to improve Robert's wardrobe and general self-care. "How on earth do you have such nice skin when you barely take care of yourself?"

Sonar would totally cry over the state of Robert's finances and would actually use that Harvard graduate brain for good to help Robert get his GED and get his finances in order. "This is just sad Bobby-Boy."

Malevola would totally mother this man and act as his therapist until he can afford a real one. "If you want to talk, I'm hear to listen babes." But once Mal finds out about Robert's traumatic childhood, you know Astral is geting FUCKED UP in Hell. She wouldn't tell Robert though - she would just make it happen.

Coupé would totally start making a list of everyone who traumatised Robert and slowly hunt them down - not to kill them - but to force them to come apologise to Robert so he can work through his trauma. They would probably also relate over traumatic childhood shit and it's good for Robert to have someone who 'gets it' y'know?

Punch Up would totally try to help get Robert back into shape aftyer his coma, but in a non-destructive way this time. They would be great sparring partners and Punch Up would totally be a great gym bud. "Don't worry about it laddie. It gives me a chance to give Theresa and Susan a good workout."

It's Golem and Visi though who finally get Robert to play for once though. Like this man has no hobbies and so they get him to join them on game nights. Robert would totally be great at videogames and would probably like pretending to be somone else in games like dnd for a bit.

So yeah - more 'Robert learns self-care with the Z Team' fics please.

[sunnyfrenchfries]

Bob Bob from Geek Squad Prequal Thoughts

I'm thinking this AU takes place maybe 2 years before the game or so, honestly, so Robert never arrested Flambae or cut off his fingers. As for Invisigal, it doesn't seem like she was working for Shroud that long in the game before quitting. So, probably just a normal criminal in this, no heart-wrenching guilt of blowing up a beloved superhero for her.

Honestly, in my head, this Robert really did get burned out of heroing. He couldn't keep the mech going. Repair costs were starting to cut into all aspects of his life, and his heroic work started making him depressed, overworked, and living a thankless life. Maybe he finds Beef and faces a situation where he has to choose between buying some new wires for the suit to keep it functional or dog food for his pet, never mind food for himself, and that just... breaks him, let's say.

So he puts it on pause. Takes a breather. Takes a few IT gigs, some tech jobs here and there. Tries out what it's like to be a human for a change, you know? And then, after a month or so, comes a startling realization that the world didn't end without Mecha Man. People talked, then had a lil panic when he stopped showing up, and then... moved on. Other heroes picked up the slack; SDN was fine, the police were fine. Nothing changed. But Robert understood that he had to.

And that's when he goes to work for SDN. Because yes, money, but it also satisfies his urge to help people, without sacrificing himself on the altar of heroics. His work/life balance has much improved since he started. He likes his coworkers; he very much likes having Flambae be a part of his life. And he's slowly able to build his savings back up, buy Beef a few more treats, and actually buy some healthy food for himself instead of the overprocessed junk he was forced to consume. Because eating healthy in LA is fucking expensive!

@marciellesmusings Give me more burnt Robert, who's burnt out from being a hero - it's a thankless job. Sure, he loves helping people, but he's basically killing himself to do so.

Yessss. Its never ending. There is never a goal in sight. There are milestones to heroism, but it's not even a fucking marathon; it's a slaveship with no port to retire at

And it takes Robert crying over some fucking kibble to come to that realization. (He gets the kibble for free because some dude with face tattoos feels bad for him) (it's Toxic)

And then he starts working in the tech department of SDN more full-time, and he really likes it.

It's challenging but he still feels like he's helping people y'know?

Maybe that's why he helps Flambae when he tells him about the Z-Team's revolving door of shitty dispatchers who treat them like criminals

It's stable, he goes home at the end of the day, and they let him bring his dog to work. His bruises start fading, and he puts on weight that's not only lean muscles and zero body fat. He rounds out a little bit into a good, where you wanna be, kinda weight. He can start cooking his mom's recipes (we're going wasian).

He knows what it's like when the world is against you, and he just wants to give them a fair chance. So what if he does it his way? They're doing all the work anyway, it's honest hard work on their part that puts them higher and higher up the leaderboard.

But he's proud of them, and it makes him happy to see the team actually shake off their potential and DO.

[onmomnomazoid]

Randomly thinking about something veryyyy scientific, please, please

Ahem

(warning...may be a little bloody...and suggestive...)

°Hypothetically, because waterboy has so much liquid in his body he could technically die from blood loss because of it

°Theoretically...ahem, he could also not have a gag reflex because the water in his body (and throat) kind of stops the reflex from even happening

°okay so maybe (sort of) imagine him just taking it in the mouth like that (I'm so normal, please) while having eye contact with the person he's taking it (YEAHHHHH, SEE MY VISION GUYS, SEE MY VISION!!)

°imagine him being so sweet and perfect and people slowly realize how pretty (and hot) the guy is (I swear, anyone at this point would crack him)

+:if you can't tell, I'm very embarrassed about myself because why am I like this (look, I'm pretty sure I'm going to hell for this, but you can't blame me, you guys are falling with me because you guys are READING THIS)

Something similar to this if you wanna see that too

@patheticwhitemenlover great minds think SO alike

[allmyhomieshatelawns]

so we know that like, witches n magic n stuff exist in the Dispatch universe, due to Punch-Up at the very least.

what if a witch finds Robert pre-SDN, and offers him power in exchange for his firstborn or whatever, and he takes the witch up on it bc like, he’s not planning on having kids/the price seems reasonable enough, and w the suit trashed, he wants to still be out saving ppl.

cue he gets some kind of fucked up situation. like, he can see everyone’s emotions but can’t see otherwise, or his mind processes at the speed of a supercomputer but he can’t emote to save his life, idk. i just think it would be funny if more than one person made a fucked up deal w a witch to get powers

[marciellesmusings]

Dispatch Fic Prompt #06

Mid Season 1 AU - Boberto was a Phoenix?!

Before the Z-Team finds out Robert is Mecha Man, they have a bet going about which washed-up hero he used to be. That is until Sonar overhears Bobby-Boy talking with Chase about his back problems.

"Well you wouldn't have fuckin' back problems if you still had your goddamn mattress."

Robert just rolls his eyes and smirks "You dangle one guy off a building and suddenly the world is against you."

"Damn right. Waste of a good mattress on that toxic piece of shit."

Hmm interesting. Maybe Bobby-Boy wasn't a hero after all...

So Sonar changes his bet and of course the rest of the team wants to know why. He explains what he heard and how "Robbie hacks into intricate security systems like its no promblemo - I would know - saw some serious tech nerds at Harvard."

So now the z-team is wondering if Robert was an ex-villian like them. It would explain all the scars Invisigal said he had. So the team comes up with increasingly crazy ways to find out what kind of crimes Robert committed and how much time he spent in prison.

Meanwhile Courtney is dying of laughter (on the inside) and lets Robert know the team's theories. When the questions get to be too much, Robert fucks with them by being honest about some of his 'crimes' as Mecha Man:

Breaking and entering

Assault & Battery

Kidnapping

Cybercrimes: unauthorised access

Stalking

Intimidation

The Z-Team now firmly believes Robert 'is one of them'. Prism even says "You're not like those bitch-ass dispatchers they gave us before. You get us."

So they start treating Robert like one of them and ask him more genuine questions like "What made you decide join the Phoenix Program?"

Poor Robert doesn't know how to break it to his team that he never spent time in prison, he just had a fucked up family tradition...

[marciellesmusings]

Dispatch Fic Prompt #03

Mid Season 1 AU

Robert refuses to cut Sonar or Coupé. Sure, he just started this job and arguing with Blazer, his boss, is probably a terrible idea but fuck it - he just got this rag-tag bunch of losers to work with him. Plus, isn't the whole hero shtick 'You don't kick people when they're down...'

The SDN Big Wigs disagree and put Robert on probabtion for refusing to kick somone and for 'Insubordination'. He's suspended for three weeks without pay.

Of course the z-team find out when Roberto doesn't show for his next shift. The team put 2 and 2 together to make 9 and jump to the worst possible answer - that SDN cut Robert because he refused to cut one of them.

So they go hunt him down in amongst their missions while Chase tries to keep them in line (he fails - they want their Robert back).

They eventually find Robert's apartment and he explains what really went down (he's not fired - just suspended). Z-team is pissy about this - that's bullshit. The team adds him to the group chat so they can bitch with him about work stuff and hang out on the weekends.

While Robert is suspended, Blazer brings in a new temp dispatcher from downtown LA who is suposedly a miracle worker (she needs somone good to deal with these ex-villians having a tantrum). The team does not like this person and basically 'mallicious compliance' the shit out of this bullshit. They do everything they're told and only that - even if it's wrong. They make this new dispatcher's life a living hell to the point where they quit after 3 days.

Then comes the next dispatcher... and then the next... and then the next. SDN is considering ditching the whole Phoenix Program unbeknownst to the z-team. Blazer begs them to reconsider and let Robert come back early because 'They respect him. He's the only one who's been able to get them to work as a team.'

Robert comes back and we get the celebratory - lets go to the bar after work. They run into the Red Ring Goons and the whole team is very protective of what they think is their squishy little dispatcher. Meanwhile Robert releases all his pent up frustration on these goons and goes full-on rabid raccoon on their asses. The z-team now thinks Robert is an ex-phoenix programer.

General Team Chaos Ensues.

[marciellesmusings]

Dispatch Fic Prompt #08

Post Season 1 AU - "Don't Leave..."

Now that Shroud has been dealt with for good, and Robert has the pulse back, he kind of expected to get back out there as Mecha Man. So he does, under the employ of SDN this time though, so he's getting paid for once, which is nice. He's even working alongside the Z Team which has been interesting to say the least. Working with them out in the field is very different from being their dispatcher, but they make it work. They actually work surprisingly well together now.

Soon though, Robert gets requests from the DTLA branch to come Downtown for few missions to help as Mecha Man. Sure - alright, that's fine - but a 'few missions' turn into Robert spending more time in downtown LA than back home in Torrence with his team.

He's obviously not the only one feeling the strain as he's heard a few rumours about members of the Z Team confronting heroes from the downtown branch for 'stealing' Mecha Man.

He's got to put a stop to this before the Z Team is once more down the shitter with the media, so he gathers them all in the conference room. Turns out they have an intervention for him as well.

Robert: "Look guys, I would much rather be here with you, but they need my help."

Malevola: "Do they though? Or do they just want 'Mecha Man'?"

Robert looks confused: "I am Mecha Man, Mal."

Flambae: "That's not what she's fucking talking about, bitch! She's saying the DTLA bitches just want to be able to say they have Mecha Man on their team. They don't give a shit about you BobBob!"

Basically a fic of the Z Team doing an intervention for Robert because he's once more slipping down the self-destreuctive rabbithole of 'Mecha Man' meaning:

he's barely eating,

he's not sleeping,

he's in constant pain but does nothing about it

And they're worried goddamnit!!!

[marciellesmusings]

Dispatch Fic Prompt #09

Pre-Canon AU - Chase POV "He's my kid - Always was"

Chase was the youngest member of the Brave Brigade. It had been such a fucking honour that Mecha Man had chosen him - but damn... he didn't expect to be hired as a glorified babysitter for the boss's kid. And sure, Astral paid him well to watch his kid but this was fucked up. He was supposed to be a superhero - not a daycare.

Robbie was barely home, and when he was, he was training this kid to be the next Mecha Man. It's no wonder the kid's mom left - Chase is surprised she left little Robert behind though... She probably thought the courts would never grant her custody - not when the other option was Mecha Man.

Even though he's pissed, Chase tries his best to care for and mentor little Robert. The kid didn't deserve this shit - He can't help who his dad is. So when Robert is displaying something at the Torrence Primary School Science Fair, Chase is there. Not Mecha Man - Not Robbie - Chase. The kid is a wizz with computers and can code like no one's business. He's going to be an absolute menace as a teenager - Chase can just sense it.

Then, on the 4th of July, 1999, Astral invites the whole team to his house for a barbeque. It was a good afternoon. The team were all out in the backyard, but for some reason little Robert was sulking inside. Chase couldn't even bribe him out with food. Everything was fine until they hear a robotic voice call out DEFENCE PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.

Robert!

Chase doesn't think. He just runs towards the garrage where the Mecha Man suit is stored. And there - in front of the hulking piece of metal was little Robert, holding a hammer and crying - a bright red lazer aimed at the centre of his forehead.

Chase runs faster than he's ever run in his life - diving to scoop up the kid. But he's too late. The lazer clips the kid's ear and he cries out in pain. He cradles little Robert against his chest - shielding the kid with his body when Robbie finally shows up "DEACTIVATE PROTOCOL!" He shouts as he runs into the garrage.

The robotic suit halts 'Defence protocol deactivated' and goes back into it's standby mode. The couple of small dents in the suit's armour explained what had happened. Chase didn't blame the kid, but clearly Astral felt differently.

"Get up"

Little Robert looks up at his father in defiance before tucking his face back to Chase's chest - and yeah - that's what cements it for Chase. Robbie is going to kill his kid trying to raise him to be 'the perfect Mecha Man'.

So Chase does what he does best - he runs - but this time, with little Robert tucked safely in his arms. Who cares if he just gave up being a part of the Brave Brigade. At least Robert won't be raised for the slaughter with him.