Chapter Text
Robert woke up to sunlight shinning in his eyes like it was personally trying to fight his retinas, his plastic chair shifting under his weight as he moved to sit up straighter. back aching like it always did.
He hadn’t always slept in a plastic chair, when he was a child he had a bed like any other kid. one of the few normalcies of his childhood, but after inheritance money ran out a bed wasn’t something he really needed a couch worked fine. And when he sold the couch an arm chair sufficed, and now he was here. Waking up to plastic under his finger tips.
The permanent knots in his back ached more as he dared to try moving, though that wasn’t entirely to blame on the plastic he slept in, the pins in his lower back we’re a constant reminder of how he ended where he is now. There was a time when he believed he could stop the pain, and he had tried really he did, at least at first. After he woke up from his coma he wasn’t completely ruined, he remembered how to talk and walk to move his body, he was lucky in that way. But it would be a lie if he said his legs didn’t feel like he was trying to stand for the first time when he got out of the hospital bed, that the physical therapy he tried to refuse before hearing how much it would speed up his recovery process didn’t make every bone in his body feel broken twice over.
His thoughts were perpetrated by his phone buzzing angrily on the floor next to him, the sound waking beef from his peaceful slumber, beef yawned stretching his pawns out before going limp against his plush bed tongue hanging lazily out of his mouth. “Sorry for waking you buddy” Robert said earning him a dramatic huff from the dog.
His hand found its way to his phone the screen lighting the room up more than the bits of sun poking through the curtains could, unsurprisingly the buzzing was spurred on by the z-Teams “After hours” group chat prism had made.
Prism- Hey can anyone pick me up for work today? there’s like a whole mob of fans walking my street and I don’t want them seeing my car.
Malevola- I can literally just portal us to work
Visi- If you could do that the whole time why am I wasting money on gas
Malevola- Cause I’m not a fucking taxy??
The chat continued with varying degrees of insults and actual banter before Robert put his phone down and decided he was better staying out of it. Besides he needed to get ready to leave for work, his joints gave more pops in protest as he stood and he was half convinced it was intentional, he stretched trying to rid himself of some of the tightness between his shoulders, it almost worked.
His morning was sluggish at best, his body hardly cooperated as he tried to get dressed and walk down the stairs of his apartment with beef in tow. It was a nice morning all things considered, the sun was bright and warm casting long shadows over buildings and trees as it rose higher in the sky. The air was crisp and fresh filling his lungs easily.
He didn’t live far from the SDN building, it was maybe a 15 minute walk, and Robert enjoyed it, the peace and quite early morning brought, it made the ache in his legs a little worse but it was nothing he wasn’t used to.
The SDN building came into view as he rounded another corner beefs tail wagging hard knowing he was going to be the subject of much love from all the employs he passed. As he opened the door he was greeted by the wave of people carrying varies papers in their arms walking wherever they were headed with the sort of confident air that can only be acquire by doing something a hundred times. He dropped by his desk leaving beef with chase, he didn’t even have to say anything before the old man was cooing over the dog and offering him a variety of treats.
With beef safely secured (sleeping on chases lap by now probably) Robert made a bee line for the break room, the need for coffee out weighing any other priorities. The room was small, florescent lights mixed with natural light from the windows creating what hoped to be a welcoming environment but still just gave off “dingy office job”. A half full pot of coffee sat on a mostly empty counter, He grabbed a mug from the cupboard it was white with some generic text on it about working hard.
He watched as it filled with the dark brown liquid the smell hitting his nose immediately. He didn’t bother with cream or sugar, he didn’t need it all he needed was the caffeine to help him make it through whatever the hell his team decided to put him through today. He was leaning against the counter one hand to help him balance and the other holding onto the mug like it was a life line. It mostly was if he was being honest each sip dulled the ache in his shoulders a little more.
His silence was interrupted by the redish glow of Malevola’s portal opening, Prism Invisigal followed by Malevola herself all stepped into view. Courtney stepped in front of him giving him a look “We’re in for it today mister dispatch looks like he’s got a stick up his ass, or 5” “He wishes he had a stick up his ass” Prism followed walking past him.
Malevola gave them both a look “seriously? Is no one going to say thank you?” she chided, “Unbelievable” she muttered under her breath as the portal closed Robert grinned “On behalf of all of us Malevola, thank you.” He said giving a slight dramatic bow. She rolled her eyes but grinned all the same. “Im just glad someone here appreciates me.” She said raising her voice on the last bit of her sentence for the other 2 to hear
Invisigal rolled her eyes but threw a “Thanks Mal” over her shoulder as she walked out, Prism actually had the decency to look at her when speaking “Yeah thanks babe, I’ll get you back later don’t worry.”
“Get to your shift” Robert said downing the rest of his coffee before filling the mug again. Prism gave him a look of disgust but he ignored it. “You have people to save” he pushed again already making his way to the door, his cubical wasn’t far from the break room one of the few mercies this job had. By the time he made it back to his desk all the ache the coffee had managed to dull was back in full force.
He didn’t dwell on it, the pain could be focused on later for now he had heroes to dispatch and people to help. He slid the headset on making sure everything was adjusted properly before he turned his coms on. The noise that followed never got easier to handle in the morning, everyone’s voices talking over each other loud and unbothered. At the very least he was glad to see Prism, Malevola, and Inisigals trackers and communication lines were all on.
The first call was almost immediate before he even had the chance to say anything. No time like the present he supposed “alright everyone who wants to take the first call of the day?” a series of groans followed Visi’s voice cut through the mic “Fuck already?”
Waterboys voice came to crackling life. “u-uhm, have, I could have…Take! I-I could take this one.” Robert smiled “Good to hear. You’re going to go help a lady get her cat unstuck from a vase, The address is *** oakhurst street.” “I’ll d-do my best!” waterboy called the faintest hint of confidence in his voice.
Robert wasn’t sure if it was his back that was aching or the bruises on his ribs by the time lunch rolled around. (Probably both but he only needs one to blame) The chair he used at work was almost worse than the one he slept in. The fact that there’s never a moment of peace at SDN doesn’t help either. Between the normal workload of call and doing his job his team was a near constant headache, and that’s not to say he didn’t care for them. After the whole thing with shroud and telling them he’s Mecha man, it felt like they really had built their own found family in a fucked up sort of way.
But even so the entire team still had a way of pushing buttons he didn’t even know he had, they had their average amount of calls with low to mediocre level threats but somehow the universe decided that apparently it still needed to make him the punchline to every joke. Waterboy had twisted his ankle after slipping in his own puddle cause he embarrassed and flattered by the praise the old lady he helped had giving him. Malevola then had to be benched for a mission she would’ve been perfect for so she could heal him. Invisigal had an asthma attack which resulted in a robber getting away.
(Not that he could really blame her for that one.) and the icing on the cake to this fucked up first half of a shift, was that flambea had refused nearly ever mission he’d been given. Which was more salt in the wound seeing as Robert had thought they were getting somewhere after Flambae showed up to that house warming party with a punch and a lamp.
But the man was a known dick so he cursed himself for expecting any different. Robert groaned before turning his coms back on, “That’s all for now you’re all free to go to lunch.” There was a collective cheer of “Finally’s” in his head set before one by one all the icons of who was online started disappearing.
Robert sighed pulling his headset off and setting it on the desk next to his computer before leaning back in his chair and rubbing a tired hand over his face. Chase floated just above the barrier between their 2 cubicles, “Man you look shit, those fuckers give you a hard time today?” Robert half laughed half groaned “I wish it were just them.” Chase raise an eyebrow at him urging him to keep going. “My backs been giving me shit all morning.”
“Fucker out of the 2 of us you’re not supposed to be the one having back pain yet.” Robert rolled his eyes, “You may be old but I’m still the one with pins in his spine” Chase huffed “Alright don’t start playing the who has it worse game with me you know I’ll kick your ass.” Robert laughed humoring him. “You sure about that? Thought you were supposed to have a bad back old man”
Chase muttered something about young people having no respect these days before disappearing behind the cubical wall again. Robert didn’t pay him any mind instead focusing on getting up while causing as little pain to himself as possible. He was almost successful until he finally made the motion of taking the first step and heard a crack that he would most defiantly be feeling later.
He shook off the slight dread that was creeping its way up his neck at the thought and continued his way to the break room, again, coffee mug once again in hand. If nothing else he could at least count on the caffeine to help him make it through whatever the hell else the rest of his shift planned to throw at him.
He was punching in the familiar numbers of the vending machine (0,9) to grab his nutritious and definitely heathy lunch of 2 Twinkies that were god knows how old. And another cup of coffee to wash it all down, he had just managed to sit down when “Hey” He flinched turning his head to the side to see the not so invisible Invisagal. “Really?” he asked giving her an annoyed expression.
“Come on old man don’t be so uptight.” She huffed taking the seat across from him, “I wish I could but unfortunately it feels like someone is using a jackhammer on my spine.” He deadpanned. “Yikes that bad?”
Visi in all her eaves dropping glory had been one of the few people knowledgeable about his first coma, as well as some of the side effects i.e migraines, chronic pain, fatigue, a shit ton of meds. And that’s to name a few, the list of lucky people who got to know about this fucked up part of Roberts medical history included Visi of course, Blazer, Chase, and royd. Beef knows too but he’s not being included on this list since he technically can’t tell anyone about it and there for is under no obligation not to mention it.
“You know it might help if you slept in an actual bed instead of in a fucking plastic chair?” she hounded “I happen to find the plastic chair comfortable thank you.” Robert retorted “Well your back sure as hell doesn’t” They sat in silence for a minute before Visi got that look in her eyes and a grin that meant you were going to hate whatever was about to happen.
“Are you busy tonight?” She asked innocently ‘Yep.” Robert said not even bother to make eye contact as he ate his Twinkie. “No you’re not.” she shot back mater of factly. “You and I are going to go get you some furniture after the end of this shift.” She said leaving no room for argument, that didn’t mean Robert wasn’t still going to try though.
“There’s no need for that. And even if there were, there’s no way I could afford to furnish an entire apartment.” Courtney rolled her eyes “We can go to the thrift shops, besides I don’t exactly pay for most shit anyways soo I’ve got some extra money to spare.” Robert gave her a knowing look the “I thought we talked about stealing?” kind of look but dropped it soon after
“Look I appreciate it but I can’t ask you to do that.” He said trying to reason. “Too late I’m already texting the rest of the girls” Robert blinked as Invisigals phone appeared out of nowhere “Why are you like this?” he stared at her “You mean fucking amazing?” she shot back
“Ok Prism said she’d be there to make sure you get stuff that doesn’t create “Negative energy” and Malevola said we could use her portals to get everything back into your apartment.” “what about coupe? You said you texted all the girls?” Robert questioned “Oh yeah, she just sent a knife emoji followed by a thumbs up,,?” Robert chuckled smiling a little to himself. “Thank you.” He said genuinely. “Of course, we can’t all have our favorite dispatcher be taken out by something like back pain. That would make such a lame fucking gravestone.” Visi said a hint of genuine care lacing her facetious words “Oh fuck! I didn’t even get to eat anything!” she huffed looking at the clock.
SDN members didn’t get long breaks, there’s always someone in need of saving, always something that could be done. His thoughts didn’t linger long as his focus was drawn back to Invisigal standing up “Meet us in the meeting room after your shift. You better show.” She threated quickly fading into the background, “I will I will.” He placated, but it was hard to tell if there was anyone around to hear or if he was alone.
The last half of the shift was easier than the first one. Punch up managed to Secure the same robber that had gotten away earlier (the idiot had tired to rob a gas station like 2 blocks from the last place he had robbed) Waterboy was finally back on his feet after Mal had worked her (demonic?) magic on him.
And well, Flambae was still being a dick who wouldn’t listen but honestly what was new there? And besides with something to actually look forward to after the end of his shift instead of going back to his apartment to sit in the dark with beef and contemplate his life leading up to this point, he was feeling pretty good