Chapter Text
The next morning found Robert Robertson not in his bed, or anywhere remotely close to it. The ringing of his alarm, stirred him from some rather pleasant dreams and he briefly pondered just slamming the mute on it and going back to sleep. Instead he lifted his head to see he was still sandwiched between Malevola and Janelle. Still completely naked but luckily not bleeding anymore. Seemingly in the middle of the living room, surrounded by upturned furniture. They were laid out on the carpet with just a blanked to cover the three of them.
'So much for the place looking more orderly'
He yawned and shook his partners awake. Janelle smiled at him sleepily before she just laid back down and fell back to sleep. Malevola on the other hand yawned and got up as she joined him in cleaning up as much as they could before they got ready for work. Robert had to almost drag Jan out the door with him but eventually they were finally at SDN headquarters where he told them to gather up the rest of the team as he got the experiment ready.
Machines whirred and electronics blinked as he flipped the necessary switches. In front of him through a pane of safety glass stood most of the Z-Team alongside Royd and Chase, missing a certain firebrand still. They chattered amongst themselves as he made the necessary preparations.
"Hey everybody I appreciate you coming to see this. Your support means a lot."
"Don't be humble lad. It means more than a lot. It mean 978 American dollars to be exact." Colm explained, rubbing his fingers together to signify what was at stake.
"Did... did the pot get bigger? And didn't Sonar already win?"
"Yeah I did and yes it did, cause these dumbasses don't wanna pay up even though it's already obvious I won." Victor complained, arms crossed as he waited for the rest of the group to finally admit the bet was closed.
"Yeah, that makes a lot more sense."
"Can't believe you actually hung out with these fuckers." Chase grumbled in annoyance, and it made Robert smile somewhat to see he was still as crotchety even now.
"You jealous old man?" Courtney teased, riling the man up.
"Of what? Lemme guess, you got into a bar fight? I'm right aren't I? That's what villains do. Ruin the fun for everyone else."
"Bar fight. Tacos. And Flambae tried to scorch me. Great heaps of fun, you should've seen it." Robert interceded as to keep Courtney and Chase from clawing at each other. Oil and water, those two.
"I saved his life. His whole ass life. Now he owes me a whole ass life." Bruno said sounding mighty proud of himself.
"Don't got one of those on hand buddy. Even this one's only now started improving a bit. Settle for Tacos again?" Robert asked the big guy, noticing Janelle and Malevola giving him a quick smile at the improving life part. He smiled in the suit as well, flipping through the last few switches.
"Make it double crunch and we can call it even." He relented, not pressing the point any further as Royd spoke up finally.
"Ohhkay, Proto Pulse test nineteen ready to commence. We good when you good Mecha Man."
"Engaging Proto Pulse, now." Robert said, taking out the small experimental vial they were working with. He loaded it into the suit, and it whirred to life letting out billows of purple smoke. With Royd making a few adjustments outside it started up with seemingly few problems. According to Royd everything was stable so Robert struck a familiar speedsters favorite pose as the purple smoke cleared somewhat.
That small gesture made Chase give him the biggest smile he'd seen on his face so far. Although he could still somewhat hear him grumbling "Foots off by an inch". Afterwards though his face grew serious as he watched on through the glass. Victor piped up in the background about the bet.
"Alright motherfuckers. I called Mecha Man and now we all see, a man, in a mech. Pay up!" He hollered victoriously as he grabbed the cash from his grumbling teammates. Counting it more than a few times to make sure he wasn't getting stiffed.
In the meantime, Robert made sure to fully test out the suits capacity. Doing his usual boxing drills, well more accurately coordinating them from inside the suit. The commands seemed to work out pretty well, as the suit reacted in tune with his inputs. More purple smoke billowed as he followed the last jab with a clean uppercut on open air.
"Not bad right?" Robert said as he had the mech strike another pose.
"Looks better than the original." Chase complimented.
"The smoke is a little overkill though." Courtney commented, a tad worried.
"I thought the same too. But I think the purple is a nice touch-"
"Wait, what smoke?" When Royd saw the plumes emitting from the suit he immediately started to panic. "Shut it down! NOW!"
Robert heard Royd's bellow just as the system in the suit began flashing red. All emergency measures were ineffectual, the pilot eject was not working. When he tried to just take the prototype out he found it impossible. The mech began flailing wildly out of control, knocking over a free standing shelf onto the door into the room. Outside the room Royd began desperately typing in commands as he tried to get the situation under control. Seeing it wasn't working he rushed for the door, slamming his shoulder against it to no avail. Seeing it was jammed, Malevola quickly opened a portal and rushed into the room alongside Royd and Janelle. They all locked onto the target and tried to restrain it as Royd desperately tried to get it open. Sparks flew and Robert realized the entire thing was about to combust. Using whatever controls would actually still register, he used the suit fling all three people outside the testing chamber. Not even a moment later when they finally went through the door. The suited imploded on itself. Sending a blast through the entire chamber. And Robert, simply lost consciousness.
In the depths of his subconscious. He was away from everything. Darkness swallowed up every facet of his senses. He wasn't dead. That was for sure. The beating of his heart, faintly noticeable as it cut through the otherwise vacuous existence he was drowning in. That let him know he was still alive. Faintly, off in the distance. Too far away to really pin point. He could hear voices speaking. An official sounding woman, gave a clinical explanation as to his condition. Too much stress on the body. Explosion didn't cause permanent damage, but he'd likely be out for a few hours. Lucky to be alive. He'd heard that last one so many times in his life. It was usually true, and this instance was no exception. Survive an explosion. They call it a miracle. Survive multiple explosions. It becomes expected. You're just a lucky fucker. How long ago had he come to terms that he was just meant to survive this sort of thing? He knew it wasn't normal. No normal human drops 300 ft off the sky in a blaze of molten steel and gets up with just bruises and a couple broken bones. He was sure he wasn't a meta human. He still wasn't as strong as most meta humans usually were. But he did hang on to life well enough. Maybe that was a super power all on it's own, even if that was small comfort for everyone else who didn't want to see him hurt. Robert remembered everyone's faces in those moments. Chase looked panic and completely frustrated at his inability to do anything in those moments. Courteny looked mortified, convinced she was going to see a man die right in front of her and not be able to do anything about it. Royd looked desperate to try and get him out, even if it was no use. Janelle and Malevola. They looked grief stricken, like they had skipped forward in time and already saw him in the hospital bed. Hooked to machines and clinging on by a thread. The thoughts ruminated as his ears perked up. He heard distinct voices talking again. He recognized them and bid away all other thoughts as he fixated on eavesdropping.
"So. We're just meant to start the shift like nothing happened?" Malevola's accent softly peeked through, unsteady as she asked the question.
"I presume we're meant to be keeping a low profile. Keep attention off any potential incident report that might turn up. Should I be worried?" Janelle distinct professional speak carried over, the last question given more meaning at the worried tone that accompanied it.
"About me? No, of course not. I just, hope everything resolves itself. I heard Royd talking to Chase about not being able to get the job done. But in case that changes, we really need to have a talk about it. I don't think I can just be, ok with it? You know?"
"I understand. But I don't think it's that simple. It's an entire legacy at stake. At least, that's how it seems based on what I found out about the suit. He never really talked about it much. I couldn't even get him to tell me about the secret identity before the bar." Janelle said quietly, a distinct sadness as she admitted how little they had actually talked about Robert's past.
"Well whatever it is. Legacy or not, he'll need to find a different way to carry it over. I don't want to wake up one morning to find out he died. I don't want to go through that. I wouldn't put him through that either, and listen, I know that's not a guarantee I can make myself. But there's a middle ground between low risk hero work and fucking blowing up in a tin can every few months. I won't die picking up cats from trees but if he goes through another blow up like that he might not even make it to a hospital bed."
"I agree fully. But that's a decision we can't make for him. We'll talk about it and surely he'll understand the concern. But that's an eventuality, not a guaranteed one either. For now, there's no point in dwelling on it too much. Let him get some rest. I brought Beef over to stand guard. If anyone poses a threat, they'll surely meet a gruesome end." Janelle joked and Beef barked happily in response, earning a chuckle from them both. Robert felt the distinctly heavy weight on his sternum as he heard their steps fade away. Allowing him to do the same.
After what felt like days but was more likely simply hours. Robert opened his eyes, lazily looking around the sterile white hospital room and over the chunky dog on his chest. In the corner he saw Royd, looking rather depressed, his arm in a sling and bandages all over him. He still smiled at Robert weakly when he saw he had woken up.
"Welcome back." Came the usual grumble from a worried looking Chase who walked into view.
"How long was I out? And are you ok Royd? Why do you look worse than me dude?"
"Bout 14, 15 hours I think." Royd was silent for a second, looking down to the floor before he spoke again. "It's ovah bruddah. I cannot recreate da astral pulse. Too much powah, too small size. No pulse, means no mecha man. I not good enough bro. Fail you, Fail everybody. Almost get everybody killed."
"All this is, is just a minor setback nothing more. I'm not worried."
"But I am." The large man said as he got up and began walking away before Robert piped up again.
"Royd, you did your best, I wouldn't ask for anything else. Thank you." Robert offered up a fist bump to the big man, who even sad as he was took it before he exited the room.
"I heard the big bastard crying in the bathroom. Makes it hard to shit when someones doing that next to you, y'know?" Chase said earning a chuckle from Robert who got more comfortable.
"Pretty distracting yeah." Robert said as he leaned forward. "Everybody else ok? Heard people talking while I was out. Z team? Invisigal?"
"Fine. One thing she's good at is disappearing when people get hurt." Chase grumbled crossing his arms and giving Robert a side eye.
"What's your deal with her? You give everyone shit, but it always seems extra with her."
"She's a liability. And one of us needs to be objective when it's obvious there's something more going on between the two of you. Don't think I don't see it. It's all over your stupid face. The dog sitting, going missing till late and the fact you've got more stripes carved on you than a zebra. You like her. So I gotta hate her for the both of us." Chase monologued with the most serious expression on his face, and Robert had to summon up every ounce of will to not bust out laughing. One hand gripped the bed sheets desperately as he hid his smile behind his other hand.
"Listen Chase, spectacular observations aside. There's really nothing going on between me and her. She's a coworker, nothing more. I've had to keep an eye on her so she could get out the funk she was in until these past few days. That's all. And as for the dog sitting, I wasn't with Invisigal when you were watching Beef." Robert offered up the explanation with an easy smile. Earning a glare from Chase who seemed to feel like he was just being lead astray from his astute observation. Then the cogs in his head started turning, and realization dawned on his face. He thought about who he had seen Robert with the most in his off time, who had apparently accompanied him at home. Just before Robert got an earful about it though, he motioned for him to keep it down.
"Damned dog. Didn't think you had it in you. Still, keep what I said in mind. People like her, they're black holes. You reach out to help them and they just suck you in and, well fuck you up or whatever the fuck black holes do." Chase explained gravely but quickly both men started chuckling. Robert eventually got up and removed whatever monitoring equipment was still strapped to him.
"Nah cmon, take the day off."
"No, no. I'm fine. Besides it's just desk work. Nothing too strenuous."
"Desk work isn't supposed to land you in the infirmary. Think about that." Chase explained giving Robert a worried look which lingered as the other man just mutttered "I'll mull it over." before he left.
He walked over to his desk where he heard a peppy voice giving instructions through the intercom. Blazer sat on his desk seemingly frustrated before she noticed him. Her face lit up in worry as she got up to greet him.
"What are you doing up?" She asked, both of her hands on his shoulders as she looked him up and down.
"Turns out, I'm completely fine. Just sorta time traveled several hours into he future where I feel pretty well rested." He joked with a smile earning a similar one from Blazer herself.
"Oh cool, that happens to me every night"
"Wish I could say the same. How's the shift going?"
"Good," she offered up weakly. "Yeah, um, challenging. Made worse by all the enhanced villains we've been dealing with" She back away towards the desk and picked up his headset as she explained. "I have a whole new appreciation for you." She complimented as she offered up his seat and headset. Looking sheepish all the while.
"I am, really sorry about the pulse. Royd's still down but I'm sure we'll be able to come up with alternate power sources. Just a small hiccup, nothing more. Oh and really looking forward to tonight. Perfect timing."
"Yeah same." Robert offered up weakly, but realized he had no idea what she was talking about. Before he could question her on it though she walked away, leaving a bewildered Robert at his desk. He turned around to see a bottle of Kentucky whiskey by his computer with a note attached. "Congrats on not dying. Drink this when the pain meds run out. - Z-Team" He smiled at the note as he turned to get ready to get back to work, something he'd come to appreciate quite a bit in the past few days.