Chapter Text
Dad always made a point to tell him that Mecha Man is a special legacy, something to be proud of.
“Mecha Man is a hero, people with powers can keep the city safe enough, but Mecha Man, he carries the hopes and souls of the city. People look at the suit and expect a selfless, heroic hero".
He’d pull Robert close resting his arm on his son’s head “Robert, its both of our jobs are to die in this mech suit and keep that hope alive. If I die Robert, it’s your turn to be Mecha Man” his dad always seemed so sure that he’d die in the suit, Robert didn’t believe him at first, what five-year-old believes their dad is gonna die in his work? Where he always seems so heroic and invincible.
In Robert’s eyes, it was a rehearsed speech, nothing more.
His dad just had to prove him wrong, he died just as he lived, in that stupid mech suit.
Tried to look as composed as possible despite the fear, the slight tremble, a small satisfied smile on his lips despite being the one on the ground with blood-stained teeth, sitting in front of one of his closest former friends.
The last one to speak in an argument even when the last shot rang out, effectively cutting him off, blowing his brains across the concrete and leaving Shroud the victor of their unintended one-sided battle.
Mecha Man, his dad, the man who once stood on a pedestal, confident in front of thousands of people and cameras, died in front of a camera, where thousands of people would watch the leaked footage less than a week later.
Shroud was arrested soon after the video was released. He didn’t even fight it, just stood there following what he was told to do, like he was some wronged righteous hero, and not someone who just killed a hero, a father, in front of a security camera for the whole world to see.
Leaving his child mulling over what his dad's last words could've possibly been.
The Brave Brigade and a few close family friends did what they could to cheer Robert up.
They kept calling him ‘the lucky Robertson’, for having not been hunted down by Shroud right after he killed his dad, when Shroud had the chance to before he was arrested, not even when he got the Astral Pulse.
The exact thing Shroud wanted to get his stupid, greedy hands on, the reason Shroud killed his father, and it was in his hands, Robert should've felt lucky.
He didn’t.
Two weeks later, his father’s funeral was held.
Like most funerals, the service itself was private, no public allowed, family and friends only, no cameras allowed either, like hero funerals, the burial was a public playground. Robert didn’t cry, he didn’t know why, he just didn’t feel the need to cry.
Robert spent most of the night stuck by Chase’s side though, hiding away from the public eye, the older boy switching periodically between rubbing his back and ruffling his hair.
The funeral was a public spectacle by the next morning, people were finally letting it sink in that Mecha Man Astral had died the same way Mecha Man Prime did, in that suit, and they’d have a new Mecha Man to help them within the coming years.
Headlines rolled out right away for a whole month 'Former Hero Elliot Connors turning villain, killing his former most notable ally– Mecha Man?!' — ‘Who will the new Mecha Man be?’ Something along those lines was written in newspapers, the Daily Mail, some online forums, wherever people would get the word out.
Agencies twisted the truth, and influencers used the death for clout.
The city sure knew how to make itself seem like it didn’t deserve to be saved, biting the hand that helped it out countless times.
Robert’d help them anyway, of course, just like his grandfather did, just like his dad did. But also, to be petty, he was fourteen, and he could prove that they shouldn't bite the hand that helped them, even if the hand had gone a little cold, so he was gonna prove it, what kid with self-preservation wanted his dad to be frowned upon.
“You know kid, your dad would’ve loved how well you're keeping yourself together right now” A few close friends made a point to drop by within the following weeks, always making sure Robert was settling in decently enough, as decent as he could, at least.
Especially Chase and Vitalia, they were like mother hens, always flustered about one thing or another, but with the Brave Brigade stretched thin after the death of Mecha Man, it meant Robert was usually alone for a few days at a time at least.
He was still 14 when he first used the mech suit.
It was a simple robbery, no one was hurt, and he was gone for barely half an hour, he ended up leaving long before the police or heroes even arrived.
Yet Chase stood in the garage when he came back, tore him from the suit when the hatch fully opened, somehow, mastering the disappointed dad look in such a short time, and shredded Robert's confidence.
“Do you know what the fuck you just did? You're a fucking idiot, now that Mecha Man is back out, you can’t back down, it’s too late unless you can find a replacement, you make things so fucking difficult!”
"Good, I don't want a replacement, you’re not my dad, Chase!"
Didn’t matter that Chase was practically his father figure, or that Robert had considered him like a second dad for a long time, like the defiant child he was, Robert didn’t talk to him for two months, no matter how much Chase tried to apologise for yelling at him.
Two months exactly, that was what it took for Robert to officially fix the suit up and disappear.
Conveniently, he dropped out of Chase's radar exactly on his own birthday.
Leaving behind a note, Panadol for the headache Chase was bound to get, a half-eaten cake, fifteen Twinkies and an empty house for Chase to come back to.
He took most of the canned stuff and a fork from the kitchen.
Robert decided to keep up with the news well enough after he left at least enough to make sure Chase was ok without the man finding him. The Brave Brigade fractured soon after his dad died. Elliot destroyed any trust between them, leaving them cautious in case someone else decided to switch sides, and they eventually disbanded, some keeping friendships and others dropping them all.
Even Chase retired officially, leaving Robert with a bucket of high-tech he didn’t actually want, in a city he was starting to actually care about, at a dead end with Shroud, who broke out of prison recently, unaware if Chase was even alive, Shroud could’ve gone after him.
Robert even dropped someone off his balcony to get the information he needed, to little aveil.
And yet, he carried on his dad’s frankly stupid family legacy of Robert being Mecha Man, tried to avenge him, even blowing up in the mech suit at the ripe age of thirty, sending a quick, panicked, pre-written message to Chase that he was sorry, and that he fucked up big time.
All over, Robert wanted to consider himself a good son.
He did everything he was told to do, completed or at least attempted to do what his dad wanted. Mecha Man should've officially died that day.
Robert woke up four months after being blown up, in a hospital room he didn’t recognise, and the vague realisation that he couldn't even recall his dad’s face anymore, not fully, just the pain of training day and night, along with the absolute horror he felt when he watched his dad die on security footage.
All over, maybe that would make people consider him a bad son.