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The majority of people would probably say that their feet remain on the ground for at least 90% of the time they're awake — they'd probably find the question 'but how do you even deal with just standing around on your feet?' quite strange. Mandy disagrees.
It's not like she doesn't walk around when she dons her amulet, she does plenty, and it's not like she doesn't do any cardio or exercise even when she is without it but… it's been at least three weeks where her feet have simply not left the ground. Her heels and the balls of her feet ache when she stands around for too long and she finds herself shifting side to side to try to abate the soreness spreading up to her calves. She thinks she might start to understand why Robert likes sitting down so much. And the rest of the general human population for that matter.
She also doesn't think that she's ever gone so long without being Blazer since she'd taken on the mantle of the role. She still comes into work, still sits down at her desk and fills out paperwork and reads reports and calls Robert into her office just so she can look at his face and satiate the tiny little voice that nips and nibbles on the edge of her brain going 'I miss Robert, I wonder what Robert's doing, I want to see Robert–' But her office feels bigger somehow, not only because she's shrunk from 6'1 to 5'7, but because it's taking a lot more effort to fill up the space.
Everyone still calls her Blonde Blazer, just Blazer, Miss Blazer, Blondie, and she knows she's overthinking it when she's analysing everyone's tones as they talk to her but when she rubs at her neck from how sore it's become due to all the looking up she's been doing, she can't help but feel a little… smaller. The fuller figure of Blazer looms around her like a shadow and she's standing up taller and squaring her shoulders and using her Blazer voice a little more often with people than she'd like to admit and she hates to think that everyone's been noticing her efforts. This is what they want, isn't it?
They want Blonde Blazer, they want the blue and yellow corporate superhero outfit, the nice blonde hair and the super strength and the confidence and the energy beams from her hands and the ability to fight and protect the citizens of the city she is sworn too. But Mandy can't do that: she can't carry a sofa one-handed into Robert's apartment, she can't scare away a bar full of Red Ring goons in a form like this and she can't protect Robert if she can't even properly defend herself anymore.
She tries to apply the advice she's been giving Robert, about how he's a hero whether or not he's sitting within his suit, that the good of his heart and the intrinsic nature to do the right thing is what makes him Mecha Man. Not the suit, not the powers, not the fancy energy weapons and the backflips that he can do. But it all falls flat in her mind. It doesn't sound convincing when she tells herself the same thing, maybe because Mandy realises that it's not the same issue at its core. She knows she's a hero, she knows that when she wears her amulet and lets the golden power consume her, that she is Blonde Blazer. She's always wanted to help people, ever since she was young and she's never doubted for a second that Blonde Blazer isn't good enough.
But is Mandy?
She's shaken out of her thoughts when the printer next to her desk whirs to life and not even a few seconds later, there's a knock on her door. When she looks up she can see Robert's unkempt hair and his stupid little grin poking through the glass. She rolls her eyes, telling him to come in and watches as he strolls up to her desk.
"There was a queue outside, for the printer," he begins, reaching over and grabbing the bundle of warm paper, "So I decided that you wouldn't mind if I used yours."
Mandy looks up at him, "And who gave you permission to do that?"
"You know what they say, ask for forgiveness not for permission."
She rolls her eyes but she can't help the smile that wants to be let loose, "Not quite the right mindset to have in the corporate world, I'd say."
"Oh, don't worry," Robert waves her off, "My boss is like super cool, she won't mind." He leans down, hand supporting himself over the table as he gives her a quick peck on the lips. "But don't tell her I did that, I think she likes me and she'll be totally jealous."
Mandy's hand comes up to cup his face before he can lean back and she has to tilt her head up to kiss him again. "Really?" Her voice comes out quieter than she'd expected, "Are you sure it's not all just in your head?"
"Wow…" Robert pulls back with a chuckle, free hand over his heart as he tries to put on his best hurt expression, "You don't think I have the charm for SDN's poster girl?"
Mandy raises an eyebrow at him, "I think you're being greedy if you want both of us."
"Nonsense, nothing wrong with being a little hungry," his eyes shift up to the shelves above her, "Oh yeah, do you happen to have the reports from that day where uh– where Flambae got stuck in the sewers, it was sometime last week."
She looks behind her, getting up from her chair, "I think I filed that one away actually, let me just–" Even as she stands up on the very tips of her toes and stretches her arm as far as it can possibly go, she can't reach it. She grunts, fingers just barely brushing over the bottom of the folder and she can hear Robert laughing behind her, amused and soft.
He's warm when he stands behind her, when his chest brushes against her back and his free arm is wrapping around her waist so that she doesn't topple over when he leans forward to fetch the folder. No grunts of effort, no tippy toes and no superpowers to aid him. He detaches himself, lets his warmth dissipate into the air as he no longer towers over Mandy and he begins stacking his freshly printed paper on top of the folder.
"Thank you very much, Mandy." He leans down to press a kiss onto the top of her head. He doesn't even mention it, doesn't mention her inferior height or make a comment about her needing help. He just kisses her, smiles at her, at Mandy, and leaves her office with a little wave.
—
Mandy's sitting on the sofa, laptop warming up her thighs as she reads through the reports and HR violations to come from the day. The sky outside is dark and the streetlights are slowly flickering on and the warm-toned lamps that she's turned on inside her apartment are surely adding to the background of someone else's view of the city. She bites at the nail on her thumb, tapping her teeth against it as she looks down at the screen in front of her. Who knew the takedown of LA's most unrelenting supervillain came with so much paperwork?
Crash–
Her head whips around to the kitchen where Robert is standing, a baby pink apron Mandy had been gifted a couple of Christmases tied around his waist and holding a wooden spoon.
"You okay?" she calls out, slowly pushing the laptop off of her before setting it down on the table in front of the sofa. "What did you drop?"
"I didn't drop anything," Robert replies, hands actively wiping up what Mandy assumes to be a spill. "Stuff just clatters, you know? I'm a very capable chef."
Mandy scoffs as she rises from the sofa and pads over to where Robert's standing. "When was the last time you cooked something, my very capable chef?"
Robert chucks the now soaked towel to the other end of the counter and turns around to face Mandy. He points at her, poking her lightly in the chest with a raised eyebrow, "Last week, here in this kitchen, and you know what you said to that? 'Wow, this is actually kinda good.'"
Mandy laughs, hand brushing against his cheek as she leans up to kiss him on the other one, "I did say that, didn't I?"
The pasta he's made ends up being a little better than last week — she thinks he's always been a very quick learner — and they end up polishing their plates off half way into the episode Mandy's put on. It's some dating show with people on an island and they all have more social media followers than the average person but half of them also have veneers that could probably do similar damage to getting a light beam straight in the eyes from Prism.
One of Mandy's very nice and soft blankets are wrapped around their shoulders and her head is resting against him and she's curled up around his arm and he turns his head every so often to press a kiss to the top of her head. There's some commotion going on in the show, something about some double cheating scandal but not really because none of them are actually dating anyway, and it's rather easy to tune it out in favour of listening in to the beating of Robert's heart instead.
Mandy feels something in her chest: it's tight and compact and so small that it would be easy to brush away but it almost feels like a bullet lodged in between her ribs as she breathes. This is a domestic dream — this is what she's so deeply yearned for ever since the reality of being a superhero had settled in for her and for years, Blonde Blazer has never had the chance to just take a break and sit down like this. And if she'd never met Robert, she doesn't think that opportunity would have come.
Phenomaman had been… good– better than previous relationships and she knew that he never meant anything but the best but his views on himself and her as superheroes had been overwhelming. She'd pushed Mandy down, locked the part of her that wasn't Blonde Blazer away because Blazer was the one everyone wanted, wasn't it? No one knew about Mandy, everyone knew about Blazer. About all of her accomplishments and her feats and how polished and perfect and good of a hero she was. The human part of her, the part that liked shitty dating shows and feeding ducks at the park and reading a nice romance novel before bed, had been pushed aside so much she'd started forgetting what it was like to be Mandy. And unfortunately for her, she doesn't think Phenomaman had been on the planet long enough to understand.
But Robert understands, he understands more than Mandy could have ever hoped for and there doesn't go a day where she doesn't think about their date out in the SDN building's courtyard. The way he'd looked at her, the way it seemed absolutely absurd to him as to why she should be so insecure about Mandy and when she'd tried to explain it to him, he just wouldn't budge. He'd kissed her right there, even after she'd laid herself bare to him and he still chose to accept her, chose to sit down and talk to her and get to know Mandy as opposed to Blazer.
"A penny for your thoughts?"
"Huh?" She hadn't even realised herself she'd been so deep into her own head.
"Well," he squeezes her thigh reassuringly, "You weren't really watching anymore and you were biting your thumb like you do when you're really thinking or concentrating about something." He says it all so casually, like he's reading the morning paper, and Mandy simply stares at him for a second.
"Oh."
Robert raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"I mean– uhm," Mandy looks away. She doesn't think she can deal with the way he's looking at her right now. "It's nothing, really, I just… got a bit distracted, that's all."
"Mandy," his fingers gently guide her chin so that she's looking at him again. She swallows. "What's going on?"
She doesn't say anything for a while — and Robert doesn't force her to. She looks up at him and his eyes look at her with such softness she can feel her resolve to not talk about it breaking down by the second. She doesn't really know what to say, how to go about it or what she's even feeling and the more she thinks about it, the more stupid it all sounds.
She clears her throat, shuffles around a bit and lets her hand settle on his chest as she casts her gaze down. "Do you really prefer brunettes?"
There's a split second where there's no response… and then Robert laughs. It's not loud, it's not mocking and Mandy can feel the way his chest stutters with it when he does. He presses a kiss to her forehead.
"I always have," and his hand is cupping her face and bringing it up so that he can look at her again. "Since I was a kid I think. Used to have a couple posters from movies with people on them I secretly found really attractive and Chase commented on the fact they were like 90% brunettes once."
It's Mandy's turn to laugh and the bullet from before jostles with the movements and falls, dissolving as it does so.
"Come on," Robert scoffs, "You're telling me you never fan-girled over anything in your teens? That's such a lie– you're such a dork, it's impossible."
"Wow," Mandy dodges his kiss as he leans in for one. She can feel the way her face has warmed up and she thinks to herself that she's never going to let Robert know about the Mecha Man posters she had plastered above her bed. "You know bullying counts as an HR violation, right?"
"This is hardly bullying and we're also not at work," Robert says, patting her thigh, "Plus, you're like, a cool boss, are you not?"
"Oh yeah, the coolest, no one's cooler than me, that's for sure."
And Robert simply raises an eyebrow at her. "So when I said you're corny and you called me a dick…"
Mandy laughs and gives him a light push before curling up around his arm again. The episode is coming to an end and it's clear it's going to close on a cliffhanger that'll just pick right back up tomorrow night and Mandy yawns as Robert reaches over for the remote.
"You know, I've been really liking Mandy around the office," he says and it takes her a moment to actually register his words.
"Really?" she asks with another yawn, "I kinda feel a little… useless."
"That's what the rest of us are for, isn't it?" He leans back again, craddling his hand around the back of her head as he guides it under his chin. "I like helping you, even if it's just reaching the top shelves for you."
"I think you're the only one that prefers Mandy."
"I think you've been holed up in your office too much to know for sure," Robert teases. His hand is rubbing up and down her back and it's so soothing and nice that Mandy can feel the drowsiness cling to her eyelids and drag them down. "I also think that… Mandy needs to be more Mandy and try to be less like Blazer."
Her brows furrow at that but she doesn't budge from where he's tucked her in tightly against his chest. "What if they don't…" Yawn. "Listen to me…"
"They do respect you as Blazer," Robert hums, "But I think they'd have a little more personal respect for you if you opened up to them as Mandy as well."
—
The bar is a little more packed than she'd anticipated for a Tuesday night and it's not made better by the fact that the entirety of the Z-Team starts filing in through the front door. Apart from Golem.
It's not a supervillain bar this time, as Mandy had been informed it had been the previous time they'd gone out drinking, and while the Z-Team had garnered city-wide respect for their fight with Shroud, Mandy knows that there are still a few figures left in the superhero world that hold a distaste for them. And she also knows that some of those 'heroes' have gathered here tonight.
They're all rattling off their drinks to the bartender as she approaches the counter and when he turns his gaze to her, she's about to tell him her usual glass of straight vodka but hesitates for a moment. She doesn't think that'll do her well in her current, average human form and so she settles for a gin and tonic and smiles as she hears a mix of approval and boredom from the rest of the team.
Punch Up pulls out his card to pay but she bats it away before it can make contact with the reader. "Don't worry about it," she tells them, "This round's on me."
Punch Up chuckles, patting her on the back as he nods, "Good on ya, boss lady. Tryna' butter us up."
Prism taps her manicured nails against the counter, "The more drinks you pay for the more we invite you out, that's how it happened with Robert."
"Although," Malevola drags out, leaning over the bar so that Mandy can see her better from the other end, "He was a bit of a cheap-skate the first time so we deducted him points for that."
"Hey, guys," Robert interrupts, "Why don't we not drain her bank account?"
"What, do you depend on it too now?" Invisigal snickers, "It's manager money anyway, she'll be fine."
"How about a little financial responsiblity," Robert cocks his eyebrow, "Do you know what that is or–"
"That's enough, Robert," Mandy says with a laugh, hand on his chest as she steps between them, "It's fine, honestly, I don't mind."
Invisigal grins, sticking out her tongue at him as she blows a raspberry his way and Mandy can't help but be amused by the way he rolls his eyes. She turns invisible and Mandy assumes she walks away but she suddenly appears again as her face collides with the chest of one of the other bar-goers.
He glares down at her and the bar almost seems to go silent as eyes settle on them.
"Invisibitch," he mutters before he raises his eyebrows and a grin splits out on his face. "Oh, apologies. It's Invisigal, now isn't it? What, 'cause you snuck off to rub one out during the Shroud fight, right?"
Mandy recognises him. She's worked with him before and if she were to rank every superhero she's ever head to commit to teamwork with, she'd rank him last. Every single time. He's tall and he's built and he kind of reminds her of Flambae if Flambae had a stupid purple mask that made him look bald and also had none of the redeeming characteristics of the man either. He's arrogant and he's obnoxious and frankly Mandy had only tolerated him because she'd found him crying in the locker room once.
Invisigal narrows her eyes at him, hands on her hips as she tilts her head up to lock gazes with him. "What else do I need to do to be a hero? Suck your dick? You can't even fucking see a bulge and you're wearing a skin-tight suit, what would I suck?"
The man snarls at her, "It's called a dance-belt, bitch, you think you'd know from how many–"
"That's enough, Red Heart," Mandy stands up from the stool she's sitting on and she feels it immediately when all the eyes shift over onto her. You've got this, she tells herself, but a part of her really wishes she'd been Blonde Blazer in this instance. "She's more of a hero than you could ever imagine yourself being."
A chorus of ooh's and damn's radiate from the crowd but Red Heart himself doesn't seem too pleased with her words as he stalks over to her. He points a finger into her chest and she can see in the corner of her eye that Robert moves to get up but she looks over hopes she conveys her message of I'm fine well enough.
"Who even are you? Some fucking normie in our superhero bar talking about how I'm not hero enough?" He scoffs and it's kind of funny the way he's almost standing on the tips of his toes to tower over her just that bit more.
"You know," her voice is signficantly lower than it had been a second ago, "I think I heard downtown mention how you've been demoted to their D-Team, haven't you?"
He stops. And he stares. And his jaw goes slack. "Who the fuck are you?"
"I'm their manager but I can be your worst fucking nightmare."
His eyes narrow in on hers and he remains motionless, like he's waiting for her to crack and when she doesn't, he backs down. "I'm not fucking done with you," he sneers before turning his back and walking back over to his table. The bar soon fills with its previous chatter and Mandy takes a deep breath in. She leans against the counter, closed eyed fluttering open as she feels a familiar hand on her back.
"You okay?" Robert asks, face right next to hers as he rubs soothing circles over her shirt.
She nods, swallows, and tries her best at a smile, "That's much scarier than I thought it'd be. I don't know how you do it without your suit."
Robert shrugs and chuckles, "You get used to it."
"You know what," Sonar burps as he says it, "That was actually pretty fucking sick of you."
There's a hum of agreement and when Mandy looks up, they've all circled around, drinks in hand.
"Perhaps even cooler than Robert," Coupé muses. "Although, I wouldn't say that is very difficult."
"That guy was stupid anyway," Malevola huffs, "His name's Red Heart? Is he colourblind? Does he know he's purple?"
—
The first person she notices the shift in is Waterboy. He's cleaning the countertop in the breakroom — why is he still cleaning? They've hired another janitor — and he almost jumps as Mandy steps into the room.
"Blo– Blaze– M–Mandy!" His hand is clutching at the rag in it so tightly it's dripping onto the floor. Or is that just him? "How– how are– how are you doing! To– today!"
"I'm doing okay, Waterboy," she smiles at him as she fetches her noodles out of the fridge, "How are you?"
"It's– it's okay, Ma– Mandy. Just– just Herm is– is fine. That's what– that's what my Gr– Granny calls… me."
Mandy looks at him for a second. "Yeah, okay." She pops her noodles in the microwave and leans back against the table, arms supporting her from behind. "How was your last shift?"
"It was– it was– really–! Really good!" He chuckles. His hands fumble with the rag as he tries to squeeze it into his belt. "Rob– Robert is a very good– a very good dispatcher. You– you chose well!"
Mandy laughs and nods her head, "I'm glad to hear that. By the way," she gestures vaguely over to the sopping counter, "You don't have to do that anymore, you know that, right?"
Waterboy– Herm? Looks behind him and a broken laugh comes out of him. "I– I know! Just– just want to– say thank you for… for this– this superhero thing. Ha… ha…"
"That's okay, Herm, but we did hire another janitor so you really don't have to–"
"What kind of party is going on in here then?" Robert walks in, Beef in his hands. "How you doing, Waterboy?"
"I'm– I'm doing– fine, si– sir! Thank you!"
Robert gives him a pat on the back and it almost looks like Waterboy could topple over from it. He wanders over, pulling out a chair next to where Mandy is leaning and sits down, flashing her a smile as she looks down at him. "Who's using the microwave at the moment? I've got some food I want to heat up."
Before Mandy can respond, Waterboy splutters out. "Mandy is–! Yep, she, Ma– Mandy is using the– uh, the microwave."
She looks over to Robert and furrows her brow, whispering. "Why does he keep saying my name?"
Robert looks back at her and shrugs.
—
They've not spoken in a while, her and Phenomaman, haven't had a proper conversation since she'd walked out of the door of that sushi place in Tokyo and flown back home herself. She knows it had broken his heart and she knows that maybe she had dragged it out a little longer than she should have and she knows that it isn't his fault that he doesn't understand humans the way other people do. But she'd been miserable.
Her assurance in her identity as Mandy had been bad enough before she'd started dating Phenomaman and then he came along and… it definitely didn't get better. It felt as if she'd gone from being Blazer 90% of the time to 99% of the time because even outside of work when she wanted to spend a night with her partner, she'd have to do it as Blazer. She'd opened up to him about Mandy, told him that she was tired and just wanted to not be a superhero for a bit but he'd looked somewhat vaguely disappointed and flown off before she could even explain herself.
She highly doubted he'd ever done it out of malice, she highly doubted he could even comprehend doing something just to hurt someone else, but as the months went on, she couldn't help but feel a little suffocated by him.
And then she'd broken it off. This crushing weight on her shoulders had finally lifted and for the first time in years, she could sit down in her old pajamas with a nice bowl of soup and not have to worry about her next date as Blazer.
She feels his eyes on her as she pours herself a cup of coffee. She knows that look, that look of his of wanting to say something but being unsure whether it's socially acceptable or not. She's glad he's improved on that front. He opens his mouth and it's almost like watching a baby say its first words.
"Mandy."
Her brows furrow and she turns around to look at him properly, mug in hand. "Yes, Phenomaman?"
She thinks that's the fifth time he's ever called her Mandy since they started dating.
"I would like to state that the colour of your hair compliments the complexion of your skin to an admirable degree."
She's been doing a lot of staring at people the past few days and she's glad that Phenomaman probably doesn't think it's rude. "Thank… you…?"
His hands settle on his hips and he lets out a huff, "You are most welcome. I admire your strength both as the phenomenal Blonde Blazer and also as a differently abled Mandy."
She winces, "I think differently abled is usually used for– you know what, nevermind. Thank you, Phenomaman. That… means a lot to me."
"No worries. Have a phenomenal rest of your day." He nods and promptly walks out the room. What had he been in there for in the first place?
She watches as he leaves and under her breath, she mutters, "What the fuck?"
—
"I know that you guys are probably still a little shaken up by the incident with Shroud and while I'd like you to know that we do have a therapist within the building, I'd also like for you guys to stop setting buildings on fire." Mandy tries her hardest not to look over to Flambae.
"Pfftt– fess up, who's doing that?" Flambae responds instead and begins pointing his fingers around the room, "'Cause it's certainly not me."
"Dude," Invisigal appears for the first time since the meeting had started a couple of minutes ago and elbows Flambae in the ribs, "Who the fuck else would be setting shit on fire?"
"I don't know," Flambae throws his hands up in the air in defeat, "The fucking– demon, sitting across from us?"
"What, as opposed to the arsonist?" Malevola leans back and crosses her arms across her chest, eyebrows furrowed as she looks at Flambae.
"Look–"
"Hey!" Mandy knocks her clipboard against the table, "Look, I'm not pointing fingers at anyone because there's definitely been other instances of stuff like that happening, I'm just saying– there are other ways to relieve your stress, guys."
"Mandy's right," Robert pipes up, taking a step forward so that he's standing next to her at the head of the table, "We really appreciate all the hard work you're doing but you can't be messing up on stuff like this. We're here for you, we always will be but you've got to work with us on this, even if you think it's silly."
There's an affirming hum from the rest of the team. Mandy clears her throat to catch their attention and… it works? "I would also like to point out that insubordination is… frowned upon, to say the least."
"Miss Mandy," Prism rises from her seat, "Is that all Robert does? Snitch on us to you?"
"Hey–" Robert frowns, "I'm not a snitch, it's called work."
"Oh, so this occurs within office hours, right?" Invisigal muses, "Not like, when you're going at it on the sofa or anything? You don't get an extra blowjob for everytime you snitch on us?"
"First of all," Robert almost laughs, "Why the fuck would I be thinking about you guys when I'm doing that, no offence, second of all," he snaps his fingers as Invisigal, "What did we say about your racking HR violations?"
"Alright, mommy's boy, calm yourself–"
"I think what she's trying to say," Golem interrupts, "Is that if you were as cool as Mandy, we'd listen to you like we listen to her." Like we listen to her. To Mandy, not to Blazer, not to Blonde Blazer– just… Mandy? She rolls the idea around in her head as she looks across the room with the Z-Team all sat in their seats, she can't help but feel a little happy as she realises that… they don't seem to have anything against Mandy at all. How peculiar.
Robert scoffs, fingers coming up to pinch at the bridge of his nose, "Okay guys, I get it–"
—
Mandy's known Visi for long enough that she can tell when she's lurking around the room. If she were to guess right in this moment, she'd say she's postered up on the far wall, watching as Mandy reheats her third cup of takeaway noodles for the week.
"Is this therapeutic for you?"
She hears the shift of shoes against the floor and eventually the swoosh of Invisigal coming back to sight is heard. Mandy smiles, turns around and leans against the counter as she mixes the noodles in the cup together.
"What, stalking people?" Invisigal's got her arms crossed across her chest, "Kinda, yeah."
"Don't you think actually talking to them would be better?"
Invisigal shrugs, "Some people are into being watched, you know?"
"Okay…" Mandy chuckles, "Well, I'd much rather you talk to me than do your weird voyeuristic stuff."
Invisigal whistles, "You know what that means? Damn, maybe you're freakier than I thought."
"I'm 30, not 14, Courtney."
She shrugs again, "I just thought you were more like– vanilla, maybe not–"
"Can we–" Mandy puts her hand up and she hopes Invisigal can see the exasperation on her face clearly enough, "Can we not discuss this right now?"
"What, you want to talk about it later?" Invisigal laughs as she walks forward, taking a chair from the table and sitting down on it.
"Not particularly," Mandy hums, "I was just wondering whether you were in here for a reason?"
Invisigal scratches at her cheek and looks off to the side and Mandy can tell she's lost a bit of that confidence from earlier. She waits, doesn't prod, lets the cogs in Invisigal's mind turn as she formulates a way to say whatever's on her mind.
"I guess…" Invisigal sighs as she says it, "I guess I just wanted to say thanks, for the other week."
Mandy raises an eyebrow, prompting her to continue.
"You know, at the bar, standing up for me and stuff." Invisigal rocks back and forth on her chair and normally Mandy would've told her to stop but she doesn't want to ruin the moment. "Like, doing that without your powers must've been pretty terrifying. If I couldn't turn invisible I don't think I'd be half as cocky as I am. So yeah, that was… pretty cool of you. Thanks, Mandy."
Mandy doesn't very commonly cry at the office but there's something about the last couple of weeks that just… vaguely gets to her. She feels it in her chest, feels it rising up and threatening to spill over but she simply covers her eyes for a second and takes a deep breath in. But Invisigal notices anyway.
"You… okay?" She rises from her seat and takes a step forward but stop once she realises she probably doesn't know what to do. "I didn't say anything wrong, right? I mean– I was kinda overthinking what to say–"
Mandy clears her throat, "I'm fine, honestly, it's just– I don't know, people have been… oddly nice to me recently?"
Invisigal's eyebrows shoot up and she lets out a quiet laugh, "That's almost the saddest thing I've heard. You're crying because people have been nice to you?"
Mandy laughs with her, wiping away at the lone tear that's made its way out, "I guess so."
—
"Have you noticed?"
Robert looks up from his laptop and over to where Mandy's sitting on the other end of the sofa. "Have I noticed what?"
"The Z-Team– not even just the Z-Team, everyone's been kinda… weird."
Robert raises an eyebrow at her and half lowers the screen in his lap, "Care to elaborate? I don't actually have a secret superpower where I can read minds, you know."
"Ha ha," Mandy deadpans, "Well, they've been calling me Mandy and they're… talking to me when I walk around the office and," she waves her hand about, "Inviting me out for drinks with you and it's just… that never really happened when I was Blazer."
When she looks over at him, the first thing she notices is the smile on his lips. It's subtle but she can see it and the look in his eyes is almost… proud? "I think they're warming up to you, to Mandy."
Mandy looks back down at her screen and she hopes Robert doesn't comment on how warm her face feels.
"You're a lot more likeable than you think, which is ridiculous, because you're singlehandedly the kindest person I've ever met in my life. The Z-Team said it themselves, you're cool."
Mandy laughs and she looks back up at Robert and that tight feeling in her chest is back but this time it's something much softer. She nudges him with her foot. "You think I'm cool?"
Robert laughs and nods, "The coolest."
—
Mandy can feel it, in her bones and in her muscles, contracting and expanding and modifying the flesh around her limbs. It had hurt the first time she'd gone through it, searing pain and prickling at her skin and she'd been sore for days upon days afterwards. But she's used to it now, years of putting the amulet on and taking it off every single day got her flesh and skin used to the feeling of changing.
The golden glow eventually fades away and when she opens her eyes, everyone's staring at her with slack jaws. She laughs.
"Don't tell me you guys forgot about Blazer."
She squeezes her fists, looking down at her figure as her feet slowly lift off the ground. Heavenly, she thinks, the feeling of weightlessness and the relief finally flooding through the balls of her feet. She hasn't worn anything this skin-tight in a couple of months at least and it feels kind of weird as it sticks to her in all the strangest of places. She supposes she'll just have to get used to it again.
Slow clapping starts but it quickly picks up and soon enough the entirety of the Z-Team is cheering and wooing at her. She'd forgotten what this felt like, the constant praise and validation and the look of admiration she'd always get as Blazer. But a part of her, a tiny little portion of her heart, is already starting to miss Mandy.
Chase gives a nudge on her thigh and she slowly sets herself back down on the ground. "Lucky bastard, I would've kept your stupid fucking amulet had Royd not given me this shit." He waves vaguely at the construction on his chest. And then he smiles. "Happy for you, though. You go out there and beat more supervillain ass. I was getting tired of that shit anyway."
Blazer chuckles, wrapping an arm around Chase's shoulders, "You know I would've let you keep it if you asked."
Chase scoffs, shrugging off her arm with a grin, "Well now I look like the fucking bad guy, I knew you missed it, couldn't keep it from you. But don't overdo it, yeah? The world needs Mandy as much as we need Blonde Blazer."
"Yeah!" The Z-Team's voices overlap as they shout out.
Punch Up pushes his way to the front of the group, "We don't lose our Mandy privileges or anything, do we?"
"Mandy's nice to have around," Golem rumbles, "Robert's less of a pain up our asses."
Blazer– Mandy feels the way her lips stretch up into a smile and she can't help the laugh that bubbles out of her, "If you guys are happy with it, then yes."