cut day! (may 8, xisuma!)
inspired by @mambodork’s Dispatch au!
i had a Dispatch phase a few months ago, so when I saw this au i was immediately hooked. all the characters and their Dispatch counterparts are in their au, so go check it out!
The coffee machine was broken. Again. Xisuma sighed, noting the similar burn marks on the nozzle and pot. He’d need to bring up company property next time he saw Tango.
Turning, he ambled across the small, industrial office that made up the Dispatch headquarters. Morning light filtered in through the windows, illuminating dispatch blue and cubicle beige. Around him, Dispatchers and heroes alike brushed by, preparing for their shift.
The ranking board, Xisuma’s pride and joy, sat proudly behind Pearl and Gem as they did each other’s hair. Pearl whispered something in Gem’s ear, and she rolled her eyes before blushing. He paused, watching them as a knot of guilt grew in his throat, before swallowing it and moving on.
In the corner, Feather Boy stood staring at a TV, sweeping the floor distractedly. Xisuma sighed, helplessly looking onward as more of his feathers fell with every swipe of his broom. Despite his ignorance, Feather Boy frowned every time he looked down, glaring at the broom as if reprimanding it.
Xisuma shook his head, speeding up to reach his office. At the rate this was going, he’d develop a headache by the end of the hour, let alone the rest of the shift. Yet at the corner of his eye, he caught someone— Impulse. His mind retracted back to yesterday, when he’d been staring at the rankings. Specifically, the bottom of them.
He neared the Dispatcher, who was talking to Bdubs, the manager. Both of them were leaning over… a cat?
“Aw, who’s this little guy?” He strode over, scratching its cheek.
“My name’s Luna, and I’ve got no clothes on!” Impulse said in a strange accent.
Xisuma laughed. “I very much doubt that is what he sounds like.” He paused, taking in a breath. “Impulse, you free for a moment?”
Impulse smiled at him. “Yeah, no problem!”
Gosh, he had no idea what was coming.
They entered his office. For Xisuma, this was his safe space— an oasis from the crazy of the cubicles, any outdoor drama muffled by the door and the dust. Waiting around on eccentric superheroes all day, he knew he needed the buffer.
He closed the door behind Impulse, before settling behind his desk.
“What’s up?” Impulse asked, eyes roving across the room. Heroic newspaper clippings, a few polaroids and of course, his Dispatch certificate were all hung proudly.
“I wanted to have a chat with you about something. Over the weekend, I was thinking it over, and…” Xisuma took a breath. Sure, he’d signed the release forms, contacted HR in preparation, but… saying it to the person responsible felt real, somehow. “I’m going to cut someone from the Hermit Team. Well, not me, but… you are.”
Their eyes met. Xisuma watched as Impulse absorbed the information, the act, the fallout, his eyes growing wider and wider. He swallowed again.
“I dunno if I’m just… hoping to motivate them, give them something to spur them on. I… what do you think?”
Impulse blinked, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. “… Are you sure about it? They all seem pretty close.”
Xisuma thought back to Pearl and Gem— the latter second lowest on the leaderboard. “Not as sure now, I’ll give you that. Is it not a good idea?”
Impulse was silent. Xisuma tapped his fingers. Was it a good idea? For one thing, the team was quite literally the lowest on the leaderboard, and theirs were becoming more and more an outlier. The warning of Cut Day itself would be a huge motivator for the team; afterwards, that motivation would help them be a little more… heroic, for lack of a better word.
Xisuma sighed. “The hope is that cutting someone at the bottom of the rankings will show people we’re serious.”
After a beat of hesitation longer, Impulse nodded. “I’ll let them know.” Xisuma met his eyes, and saw the dissonance within.
“Oh.” Xisuma coughed. “I already did.”
“This…” Impulse sighed, massaging his temple. “Thanks, this’ll be interesting.”
As Impulse stumbled out of the door, pale and slouching, Xisuma cradled his head in his arms. He himself wouldn’t want to make this choice, much less a newcomer Dispatcher. The guilt of it all burned through him like the bitter coffee he never had a chance to drink. As a matter of fact, Tango’s actions were probably a result of the warning. Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea after all.
He shifted to the files he held on the side of his desk, flicking through the names before settling on three of them. He opened the first.
Gemini. With duplication powers and a past in assasination, Xisuma thought she’d be a strong candidate for the program; yet, his failure to teach her basic empathy— or at the very least, nonviolent tendencies— failed her as well.
The next folder. Grian. His ability to see anything within a certain range proved beneficial in ambush situations or even simple speaking events; but his powers were undeveloped and limited. If only Xisuma had tried harder to train him, even in simple Flight School, perhaps he wouldn’t be here now.
And with a sigh, he opened the last. Skizzleman. His file was the main reason the Dispatch researched Impulse at all; if a major crime boss turned himself in for the sake of a past connection, anything about such a person should be well-researched.
Yet, simultaneously, Skizzleman was the reason for much of Xisuma’s guilt. To confront one’s friend about past work experience, (even if the friend was the reason for many Dispatch mistakes)… Xisuma couldn’t imagine the act. Part of him pitied Impulse.
He closed the folder with a sigh. He knew it would be hard on Impulse, on the team in general. Yet even as reason after reason materialized itself against such a decision, one main reason stayed Xisuma’s choice.
The city was stained with crime— it was like a crime. It was Xisuma’s job to be admin. It was his job to ban those who couldn’t afford to help.
He looked up to himself, to the imaginary audience watching. “Anyoone else?”
thank you so much for reading!
welcome to butter’s hermit-a-day may! this story is based on Dispatch’s Cut Day shift, in which Robert has to choose between firing Coupe (Gem) or Sonar (Grian), and that one time Xisuma banned Grian when Gem asked lol
I’m pretty sure Skizz is the counterpart of Invisigirl in this au, but correct me if I’m wrong! also if the dialogue seems a little familiar… yes i did find the Dispatch transcript online it was great inspiration
find me on ao3 @ evilbutter
