Chapter Text
“Okay Malevola, can you go to Nostalgia Alley?”
“Another weird bomb threat?”
“Less high stakes, robbery in progress. Thought you’d like to end the shift on something a little simpler.”
Well Robert wasn’t wrong about that.
After busting up the Cult of Ch’aad again, taking on another one of Shroud’s Red Ring goons taking advantage of the new power vacuum, and helping civvies evacuate a burning building with Waterboy and Flambae (the job itself was easy, dealing with her teammates less so,) a basic ass robbery would be a nice break.
“No prob, babes.”
As expected, it wasn’t a hard job, especially since the robbers weren’t even powered. One of them fainted when she portaled into the store and she easily caught the other by grabbing his leg with her tail.
Nice and simple.
Malevola took a moment to send the signal to Robert that she finished the job and check the time on her phone.
Still a little time before the shift ended but not really enough time for some insane emergency that the others couldn’t handle to crop up.
With that in mind, Malevola smiled at the nervous looking employee at the register.
“Since these assholes are handled, s’alright for me to do some browsing?”
“Uh… s-sure. If you want something, it could be on the house? As a reward?” Said the young employee who was practically shaking
As nice as free stuff sounded, Mal just shook her head. Kid was obviously a new hire and it felt like kind of a dick move to take advantage… and she knew that Robert would have some words for her if she took them up on that offer.
“No need for that, I’m just doing my job.”
From there, she went straight to the DVDs and blu-rays. Thinking maybe she could find some old show that she and Vic could binge watch over the weekend. So far she was just finding a lot of 90s cartoons, classic 80’s movies, and even older sitcoms.
So far nothing that really caught her atten- what the fuck was this?
The title on the spine read: “The Adventures of Mecha Man!”
Malevola pulled the blu-ray out and stared at the cover.
On the cover was an old looking illustration of a man in a blue full body suit with a yellow vest and helmet heroically posing in front of a very blocky looking mech.
It didn’t take a genius to know that despite some resemblance, the guy on the cover wasn’t Robert but it wasn’t his dad either. The lack of bushy ‘stache was a big giveaway. So obviously she was looking at Ol’ Bobby the First.
“Hey, kid! Do you know anything about this?” Malevola asked the cashier as she presented the blu-ray to her
The kid stopped shaking and her eyes lit up upon seeing the cover.
“Oh! Yeah, this was a cartoon from decades ago based off the first Mecha Man, Mecha Man Prime. Ten episodes were made as kind of a test run to see if people were interested in a full series. But unfortunately Prime died not too long before the last episode aired and the studio pulled it from the schedule, thinking airing it would’ve been in poor taste. Kind of sucks cause episode nine ended on a cliffhanger. This was considered lost media for a while until there was this big campaign to petition a restoration and rerelease! I actually followed the campaign pretty closely and… I’m sorry, I’m probably boring you.”
“Nah, let’s just say I’m a pretty big Mecha Man fan too. So how much for this?”
Z-Team Group Chat (No Roberts Allowed)
MAL: You guys are not going to believe what I found at Nostalgia Alley after dealing with the robbery!
PRISM: Some old ass black and white movie that you saw when it first came out? 😜
MAL: I’m in a pretty good mood so I’m gonna let that slide.
MAL: But no
SONAR: Something we could binge watch over the weekend?
MAL: Technically yes but that doesn’t actually say what it is.
SONAR: I’m just narrowing down the options.
FLAMBAE: So some weird 90s cartoon for Visi to cry over again?
VISI: THAT WAS ONE EPISODE AND ONE TIME ASSHOLE! >:(
GOLEM: I don’t think anyone’s got a good guess so you should just tell us already.
MAL: Yeah, sorry I just thought it would be fun.
[Image]
PUNCH: Wait, why does this guy look like Robert?
WATERBOY: I think that’s Mecha Man Prime?
MAL: 🎉🎉🎉
MAL: Got it in one, Herm.
COOP: Mecha Man Prime was Robert’s grandfather correct?
SONAR: Yeah and he died before any of us were born so how the hell do you know what he looks like?
WATERBOY: I remember seeing old toys and posters of him at the charity flea markets my Grandma and I go to.
VISI: Plus I assume he’s been to the internet.
VISI: I know you only go there for porn and the numbers that go up and down but you can actually learn stuff there
VISI: Sometimes you can even find pictures of famous dead people.
SONAR: Fuck off
[Image]
MAL: So apparently Robert’s grandpa had a cartoon made about him and it only just recently got a rerelease.
MAL: You guys thinking what I’m thinking?
SONAR: Making fun of some ancient cartoon with booze and some good food? I’m in.
GOLEM: Sounds like fun.
PRISM: Wait, if this is about Robbo’s grandpa, wouldn’t this mean this was from the 60s or 70’s
PRISM: Some time around there?
MAL: The copyright on the back says 70s.
VISI: Oh it’s gonna be corny as fuuuuuuck.
FLAMBAE: How much you wanna bet there’s gonna be some casual racism?
PRISM: Honestly not an unsafe bet.
PUNCH: I’m assuming we’re gonna be inviting Robert to this
MAL: Of course, I’ll talk to him during break tomorrow.
PUNCH: Alright let us know how that goes.
MAL: Will do 😘