Chapter Text
Flambae’s never thought of himself as unlucky.
As many bad turns as his life has taken, he’s always found a way to dust himself off and keep it moving. It was a trait of his family, ambitious and willful, and they all prided themselves on turning around bad situations and taught him to always do the same. Did they get run out of their hometown after Flambae’s powers manifested? Yeah, maybe, but it opened up the chance for them to move to America and start new lives. Did he and his sister get absolutely bullied in their new schools for being foreign? Definitely, but it gave them the motivation to get better control over their powers (no one messes with someone who light their ass up in seconds, after all). Did Flambae have a massive falling out with his family after some, er… admittedly irresponsible decision making and fly off to burn a mall with everyone in it? Yeah… Yeah, that did… happen…
But, like the strong willed man he’s always been, he managed to turn even that around. He did his time, got offered a good gig for good behavior, and is a safe and functioning member of society. Now, with SDN, he could tell his family he was a superhero instead of a villain, tell cool stories to his niece about how awesome he is, and only sorta kinda wish death upon Mecha Man. And until this morning Flambae had been riding high—higher than he’d felt in a good long while. His pay was steady, he’d found that at least one of his coworkers wasn’t a complete pain in the ass (thank god for Prism!), and Mecha Man had been missing for over six months now.
He kicked his legs up on the conference room table, tucking his arms behind his head contentedly. A blissful Mecha Man-less world had given Flambae even more peace than he’d imagined. Without him hogging all the action, SDN had been getting more calls than ever, making them have no choice but to send the Z-Team out to more missions. With how busy they’ve been, he hasn’t even had to set any fires to boost his score on the leaderboard lately.
“You look happy,” Prism greeted as she entered the conference room. She gave a few final taps to her phone before putting it away, as Flambae’s phone buzzed in time with the action—a morning status update of hers just posted to one of her social medias, no doubt. The hero life had done wonders for her stardom as well; Flambae had been made to follow just about everyone of her accounts on every possible site after they really bonded on a night out together and the constant climb of her following counts were almost entertaining to track.
“I am happy,” Flambae answered, grinning at her. “My niece invited me to her recital this weekend. She’s the star of the show and everything.”
Prism whipped her phone back out, now with online stores at the ready. “Ooh, then we gotta treat lil sis! Our little star needs all the best presents for earning such a good spot.”
And that’s what they did as the room steadily filled with Z-Team members, until Blonde Blazer herself walked in and clapped her hands together to capture the attention of everyone in the room.
“Good morning, just a few things before you guys go out and rock your shifts!” She started with that same corporate-sweet tone she always had, but her eyes were still clearly flitting around skeptically. Flambae couldn’t blame her, or even be surprised. No one took their team seriously, and most at SDN tried not to be in the same room as them for longer than ten minutes, if that (which made lunch in the break room so peaceful, actually). She continued, “Your performance has been… good… lately, but we're thinking a new addition to the roster may help balance the workload and spice things up!”
The team cast glances to each other, already not taking the news well, and Flambae couldn’t hold back from rolling his eyes. Another asshole to piss him off. Good.
Blonde Blazer, for her part, did a good job of ignoring their unease and steamrolling through her spiel. “Now, this was a hard role to fill, due to all your skill sets being… atypical of the usual crew around SDN. But, in the spirit of rehabilitation, we figured it would best to focus on reigniting a spark of a past hero and get their fighting spirit back while helping you all by giving you someone with experience to work with—”
“Oh my god, please don't tell me it's Phenomaman,” Prism groaned, head tilted back in exasperation. “That big lug has been moping up and down this whole city and I do not want that mojo on our team.”
Murmurs of agreement came from the others as Blazer waved her hands reassuringly. “No, no… no,” she chuckled. “No, uh, it's someone new to SDN, but we believe they're going to be a valuable asset to you and us— everyone, please welcome…” Blazer went to the door of the conference room and opened it to reveal a man in a blue flight suit leaning lazily against the doorframe.
Now, again, Flambae’s never thought of himself as unlucky. But right here, staring down the fucker who took his fingers, the fucker who was supposed to be dead, the fucker Flambae hates most in the world himself, he was angry enough to ignite and fly into the heavens and yell at god himself.
“You,” Flambae growled before Blazer could finish her verbal fanfare. He stood, drawing himself up to his full height, his hands balling into fists.
“Ah, you're… familiar?” Blazer asked, hesitantly beckoning Mecha Man further into the room.
“That’s fucking Mecha Man,” Invisigal said, conveniently appearing in the empty chair Flambae was sure she wasn’t in at the start of the meeting. How long was she holding her fucking breath just now? Despite Flambae’s confusion, she continued, saying exactly what Flambae wanted to know himself. “Like the guy who exploded six months ago and fucking disappeared? Isn’t he like, dead?”
Mecha Man, conveniently not dead, and looking like he'd rather be anywhere else, snorted. “Good introduction, Blazer. Can we go start now?”
“Like hell I’m working with this asshole.” Flambae growled. Mecha Man tossed him barely a glance, dismissive and irritated like Flambae was butting into his conversation, looked back towards Blazer.
Blazer blinked, seeming thoroughly thrown off of her corporate rhythm by the strong reactions, but quickly gathering herself to continue. “No, Mecha Man is clearly not dead. He’s signed on with SDN and we’ve repaired his suit so he can go on missions with all of you! So, I have to brief him and your dispatcher about the new dynamics, but he’ll be joining you about halfway through first shift—”
“Bullshit.” Flambae scoffed, blowing past her and Mecha Man. The rest of the team, not exactly enthused about having a narc on the team, followed shortly.
“Um, great talk!” Blazer shouted after them as they filed out. “Try your best today! And remember you’re working with each other, not against!” A sentiment they all duly ignored.
Flambae almost felt bad for everyone who had to interact with him today.
Good mood: Spoiled.
Jen was the Z-Team’s newest and long lasting dispatcher. She had made it a full ten business days, and as such, the members were a little more cooperative with her orders than when she first started.
A little more, but not by much, considering they were essentially entirely unresponsive the first week. But lately they would at least verbally address her when turning down calls. Today, however, it was like all her progress was reset to zero; Everyone was silent or snippy, going off route and ignoring orders. Any synergy building was gone, as everyone seemed intent on ignoring each other, too.
“The pet shop had all it’s… frogs… escape…?” Jen read off the details of an incoming call. “Um, Invisigal, I think—”
Jen tried to click on Invisigal’s icon and a red thumbs down popped up, her icon not budging. Job denied, then. Great. Oh, and she was off route at the coffee shop on what seemed to be an unauthorized lunch break.
"I’ll do it,” Golem said, after a few seconds of Jen trying not to panic.
“Thank you, Golem.” Jen sighed gratefully.
“Hi, how’s the shift going?” Blonde Blazer’s voice suddenly cut through the tension, and Jen physically jumped, jolting her glasses off her nose.
She fixed her glasses, fumbling with her headset. “Um, well it’s—”
“Fantastic! Mecha Man’s here and he’s ready to jump in on the action! Right, Mech?”
“Yup,” A smooth voice came over the comms as Mecha Man’s voice. “Energy levels looking great and maintenance check was clear. Mecha Man, ready to go.”
“Mecha Man ready to go.” Flambae muttered mockingly, the first thing Jen had heard him say all morning.
“Um, great,” Jen spoke, ignoring… that. “Nice to have you on board.”
“Alright Jen, remember for these first few days, Mecha Man needs to be assigned with at least one other person, just in case the suit has a bug we missed in testing.”
“Got it.” And with that, Blazer signed off, and Jen was left with the Z-Team again. She clicked on a new incoming call. “Alright, well, there's a, um- oil spill? On the highway? It's leaking over the side into the river below and needs a—”
“On it.” Mecha Man said, assigning himself to the call.
“Uh,” Jen cut in once she noticed Mecha Man’s icon leaving SDN alone. “Mecha Man, you're supposed to—”
“I got it.” Mecha Man replied, a red thumbs down indicating he was ignoring the recall order.
Jen furrowed her brows. “You can't go alone. Mandatory buddy, remember? Uh, Malevola, would you be able to back him up?”
“Fuck am I gonna do with an oil spill?” Malevola snarked, rejecting the call.
Jen glanced at the map and sighed. Golem was still busy and wouldn’t make it back in time. She looked back at the lineup, and clicked on Sonar. He was in hybrid mode instead of freaky bat mode, but maybe his intelligence would help? Coordinate? Yeah, that sounds right.
“Sonar… would you be up to helping Mecha Man out?”
Sonar yawned, loud and obnoxious over the comms. “Yeah, sure.” Jen sighed in relief as she saw him head out to catch up with Mecha Man. “This job is really cutting into my sleep schedule.”
“That’s because you stay up obsessing over your stupid stock portfolio,” Malevola replied.
“Those stocks are gold, Mal,” Sonar rebutted. “Just you wait, our sad little apartment will be a penthouse soon.”
The rest of first shift went mostly like that—Everyone but Mecha Man (and Golem) ignoring and denying orders. Rather, Mecha Man assigned himself to everything he was available for, usually skipping rest, and took off often before Jen could get a partner to go with him. Sonar and Golem thankfully seemed receptive to working with him while Prism, Mal, and especially Flambae seemed completely opposed. Flambae in particular seemed to mock everything Mecha Man said, which wasn’t much outside of mission details. Mecha Man didn’t respond beside opening up a private line when he had anything mission-wise to communicate and keeping his replies on the main line brief (though, from the way he spoke, that may just be typical for him).
“Okay, everybody! That was…” She checked the call stats in the corner. 15 calls, 10 passed (mostly thanks to Mecha Man), 3 failed 2 missed. “Good.” She finished, grimacing. “Have a nice lunch break!”
Mecha Man sat himself at a table in the break room after getting a few twinkies out the vending machine. When Chase got him this job, he did not think it’d come with this much. baggage. He loved being out in the field, but fuck if he didn’t wish for a more cooperative team. When he was younger he yearned for a tight knit group of heroes like his dad had. Then Elliot happened, and he was less keen on it, but when he heard he’d be working with a team here he hoped maybe it was a sign— some sort of gift from the universe that meant he was finally on the right track as Mecha Man.
But no. He gets a bunch of assholes that hate each other and everything else. Fine. He’s worked with worse.
At least Golem’s kinda cool, he thought as he went to take a bite out fi his twinkie, only to have it smacked out of his hand.
“You’re in my seat, bitch.”
He looked up, seeing the same asshole from the conference room earlier, and now that he was listening, the same asshole who was mocking him on call earlier. He was pissed about… something, that much was sure. His furrowed brows and general combative attitude gave that away. Even now he was drawn up straight and tall, balled fists and puffed out chest—how is that body suit legal work wear?
Mecha Man finished looking him over boredly, then turned back, pulling the second twinkie out of the package. “I don’t see your name on it.” He answered, biting his pastry.
A hand reached over, tilting the table up with ease. The name Flambae was scratched crudely into the underside.
“Huh. That’s thorough.” Mecha Man answered, taking another bite.
Flambae slammed the table back down, slamming his hands onto the table and the back of Mecha Man’s chair, effectively caging him in. The air between warped with heat, audible crackling coming off the flames trickling down Flambae’s shoulders. “Yes. I am thorough about what’s mine. This seat, this job—it’s all mine. And I won’t let you ruin it for me like you ruined everything else.”
Mecha Man’s gaze flicked over him, then his eyes lit up in recognition. He snapped, turning in his chair to face Flambae. “I finally remembered where I know you from—You’re that shitty villain I busted up.” Mecha Man grinned, planting his elbow next to Flambae’s hand and resting his face in it. “Look at you doing better for yourself.” he faux-cooed.
Flambae slammed his fist down onto the table. “That’s right, asshole. I clawed my way up from the hell you threw me into—”
Mecha Man pushed himself up from his seat and into Flambae’s face, unintimidated despite being several inches shorter. “Last time I checked, asshole, I didn’t make you set a mall with civilians in it on fire—”
“You arresting me ruined my life—”
“Sorry, I didn’t wanna let the flaming asshole go free to char more innocents’ limbs off—”
Flambae lifted the hand missing two fingers. “You sure had no problems cutting mine—”
“Oh, get over yourself—”
“Get over myself—?”
“I was in a tin can you were superheating, sorry I chose to defend myself instead of let myself bake alive—”
“You would’ve done the world a fucking favor if you had.” Flambae grit out.
Mecha Man drew in a breath, then found he had nothing to say. “Yeah,” He replied, finally, gaze drawn toward a spot on the floor. “Maybe I would’ve.”
Flambae’s brows drew together, this time in confusion, seemingly unsure how to continue now that all the wind fell out of Mecha Man’s sails. “Yeah. You would.” He said again petulantly.
Mecha man stepped around him, crumpling his twinkie wrapper in his hand, then stopped. He turned his head, speaking over his shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I am sorry I cut your fingers off. But I’m not sorry I stopped you. You may not realize it, but you already ruined your own life the minute you stepped into that mall. You’re turning your life around now, great. I’m happy for you, honest. But word of advice?” Mecha Man turned around, gaze burning hot like the flames Flambae controlled. “If you’re a hero, fucking act like it. You and the rest of the team throwing your little tantrums is not hero behavior, and you’re not fucking helping anybody when you turn down every call of people who need help and trust you and the company to give it to them. Number one rule of this gig? Heroes build trust.”
Mecha Man turned, threw the wrapper away at the trash by the door, and stepped out of the break room.
When Jen came back to second shift (after eating her yogurt cup in the parking lot alone and contemplating her life choices) the air was somehow tenser than before. Still, no one was speaking, and Mecha Man was still assigning himself to everything, but now, instead of mocking him, Flambae seemed to have taken to competing with him.
Jen fielded an incoming call, “Okay, there is a robbery happening on [muffled] street—”
“I’m going in,” Mecha Man’s icon popped up.
Flambae assigned himself as well. “Step aside, Mecha Dick. A real hero needs to handle this one.”
“Funny that you think you can handle it then,” Mecha Man countered.
Jen winced, looking at the available heroes. Flambae and Mecha Man were the ones available who fit the bill, despite her being reluctant to send them together. She started tentatively, “Well… You do need a buddy, Mecha Man. Flambae, if you can.. cooperate—”
“Of course I can cooperate. I’m so fucking cooperative.”
Mecha Man snorted derisively. “Just don’t get in my way.”
And off they went before Jen could let her better judgement reassign them.
The morning continued on like that, Mecha Man and Flambae completing missions in record time, whether together or apart. Mecha Man seemed to have gotten over his short responses and took instead to actively bickering with Flambae over comms, even when they were on separate missions. Jen rubbed her temples as she stared at the small clock in the corner of the screen. Just one more call today and then I go home, just one more call today and then I go home—
The last call icon popped up and Jen clicked it quickly, then paused. “Oh. This is.. kinda a big one—”
“On it,” Mecha Man claimed it and Flambae’s irritated growl echoed through the comms.
“That was so mine, Mecha Bitch!”
“Shoulda gotten back to HQ faster then,” Mecha Man responded, almost childishly taunting Flambae. Jen checked the heroes locations—Flambae wasn’t ready, still on route back from his last mission.
“Like I said,” Jen cut in between their squabbling. “This is a big one. I need two more people on this mission. Sonar?”
“Sure, sure, I’ll back up the superstar,” The bat replied lazily. “I need a break anyways.”
“Uh, Sonar, I’m assigning you to a mission, not to break.”
“With Mecha Man? I doubt I’ll get to lift a finger.”
A few snickers came over the line, vague murmurs of ‘ass kisser’ and other mocking words coming through. Jen huffed, way too tired for this at the end of shift. “Look, this mission is time sensitive, it involves an actively collapsing building with civilians in it. I need one more person for a good chance of success. Just one more person and we can all go home.”
“If Sonar’s going, I’ll go.” Malevola finally offered and Jen thanked her profusely.
“Aw, yeah, dream team!” Sonar cheered.
“I’m on site already. You’re right, Jen, it’s bad. I think we need eyes down here.”
Jen bit back her reprimand for Mecha Man taking off without his teammates and instead focused her efforts on getting in to the cameras nearby.
Mecha Man arrived at the scene, slowing his mech’s descent as he landed. The building Jen described was shaken, looking like it was a stiff wind away from crumbling like a Jenga tower. His mech’s HUD outlined the pivotal points of stress on the building and the heat vision mapped where groups of vulnerable people had gathered inside. Every few seconds, a low rumble would emanate from somewhere insdie the building, senidng pieces crumbling off it. Malevola and Sonar appeared out of a portal next to him and took in the sitution too.
“Shit,” Malevola said, letting out a low whistle, as people screamed in the background.
“Yeah,” Mecha Man said in agreement. “Malevola, how solid are those portals? Is it gonna affect the structural integrity if you use them to go in and get people out?”
“Uh, nah, I should be good.”
“Good, get on that.” Mecha Man directed his suit to hover again, still scanning the support beams of the building. In a corner of a screen on his suit, a system analyzed and generated the structural integrity: 68%—too close to failure. “Jen, stay in Mal’s ear and help her locate everybody, Sonar, help get people down from the higher floors and if you can—”
“Bossy pants can’t even let the dispatcher do her own job,” Flambae muttered.
Mecha Man rolled his eyes, flying forward and getting in closer to the building. "Can we keep the line to the relevant people only?” He said, grabbing fallen rubble to try and prop up collapsing walls.
Jen did as asked, but added, “He’s kinda right, I’m supposed to be giving directions.”
Mecha Man chuckled dryly, entering the first floor through a sizeable hole in the wall, seeing a group of civilians clustered under desks and tables “Look, I get it, this is your job, but this is also mine. I‘ve dealt with situations like this, so—”
“I’ve just feel like you could stand to listen to me more, I mean, you ignore my orders half the time—”
Another rumble shook the building and Mecha Man turned, hearing the telltale crumbling of something about to collapse and rushed over to where a solid chunk of ceiling was falling. He rushed into place, catching it and grunted with the effort of holding it up to keep it from obscuring the way out, hearing a pop from somewhere in his suit he didn’t like. “Great point, can we table this discussion for later? You know, after the disaster zone is clear?”
Jen stayed silent, thankfully, as Mecha Man directed the group of civilians to hurry out through the hole in the wall he entered through and get clear of the building. He tossed the ceiling slab to the side once they were safe and looked up, his heat mapping showing Malevola and Sonar getting the last of the people out of the building. “Jen, can you confirm that’s the last of the civilians?” Mecha Man asked, trying to get a second confirmation and make sure he wasn’t missing anything.
“Yes, evacuation complete, and medics and emergency services are on their way. Someone’s gonna need to explain the situation to them when they get here, and there’s still the objective of finding out where the quakes are coming from before the whole building becomes rubble. I think Mecha Man would be the best bet for greeting the EMS and Mal and Sonar can focus on investigation?”
“Alright.”
Mecha Man frowned, but agreed. If he needs to let the dispatcher dispatch, then fine. He can play hospitality. While outside, he moved around, securing the perimeter and making sure everyone was okay. He high fived a few kids, waved at some of the more anxious looking victims and when the sirens signified the arrival of the EMS, he helped direct them in safely and point them towards the most injured looking people he spotted during his rounds. All the while, Jen directed Sonar and Mal in his ear, to what what becoming an increasingly low chance of succeeding at ensuring the structure of the building.
“Fuck!” Sonar cried out, and Mecha Man snapped to attention, twisting towards the building. A new miniquake had caused part of the building to sink in, right where Sonar was investigating.
“Are you good, mate?” Mal’s voice came through.
“I think I got caved in by that last wave.” Sonar answered. “It’s all just rubble, I cant— I dont—”
“I can’t see you…” Jen murmured, typing on her end. “The security systems must’ve gotten messed up, I can’t get into anything.”
Mecha Man was in the air before he knew it, circling the building with his heat vision. His stat analysis of the building's structural security had also dwindled to 35%. At this rate, a few more good quakes would take it down.
Mecha Man’s heat vision tunneled in on Sonar finally, finding him on an upper level right next to a high stress point. Sonar was facing it, hands prodding at the wall near it. “I’m gonna try and dig my way out—”
“Don’t!” Mecha Man cut in. “I see you, but you’re next to a sensitive spot. Just hold tight.”
Sonar growled, frustration and nerves mixing. “Of course he has to save the day—”
Mal was also testy, snapping, “Mecha Man, if Sonar gets squished because you decided showing off and keeping a building safe was more important than Sonar’s safety—”
“I am prioritizing his safety. If he touches that wall, the whole floor might drop with him in it.” Mecha Man flew through the inside of the building, delicately navigating to where he saw Sonar. “I get it, you think I’m bossy, you think I’m a show-off, I don’t care. I’m just doing the best I can to get things done and get us all out of here in one piece.”
He hovered in front of the pile of rubble Sonar was under, choosing to stay in the air rather than set any added weight on the floor. His HUD pointed out the pieces he could move with out disrupting it too much and he steadily started burrowing towards Sonar. “I’m with you, Sonar, as soon as I get this piece out, run, okay?”
“Trust me, I am not trying to stay stuck in here.”
“Alright, one… two… three—!”
As Mecha Man said three, a big quake shook the building causing his gentle attempt at moving the piece to jerk wildly. The pile shifted, tilting forward like an avalanche towards them. Sonar still moved, rapidly escaping from under the pile of rocks, but the wave of rubble was faster. “Fuck,” Mecha Man grunted, ducking back in to hold back the wave with the mech’s strength.
“Mecha Man!” Sonar called once he noticed the precarious position Mecha Man was stuck in.
“Go!”
“But what about you?”
“I’ll be fine,”
“Let me help you hold it back, I can—”
The mech's metal frame groaned from the exertion of holding the ton of rocks. “Sonar, I am in a 2 ton mech. I got this. You have no armor, and if anything happens to you, you’ll get hurt a lot worse than I will. I’m fine, but you won’t be if this collapses on you. Get clear, before the Mech gives out and we both fucking die.”
“Fuck, Fuck, fine!” Sonar turned, flying out.
“Mecha Man! Report!”
“Sonar’s clear,” Mecha Man grit out, shifting his hold on the pile. “I’m currently holding up rubble, but—” Something flickered into sight on his HUD, a small red mass on the ground floor. “Huh.” He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
“If you can get out of there, do it! We have to call the rest of this mission a loss, I’m not risking your safety—”
The small mass shifted and the building shook. “We might not have to.”
“What?”
“Hold on. I see something.”
“Mecha Man!”
In one swift movement, Mecha Man grabbed a nearby fallen pillar, propping up the rubble best he could with it. Knowing it wouldn’t hold for long, he quickly moved, descending towads the red. On the ground floor he was at before, he noticed a caved in hole in the ground slightly covered by rubble. He moved the rubble aside careful not to let it fall into the hole.
The sound of a baby’s cries echoed as he descended into the hole, careful not to let his mech get stuck. A baby girl, no more than two years old, if Mecha Man had to guess, wailed loudly next to an unconcious woman laid on the floor near her. The girl squealed louder at Mecha Man’s appearance, slamming her hands against the floor, clearly upset. In repsonse to her slaps, the ground tremored. “Yeah, I found our source.” Mecha Man said, disengaging the armor around him. “And I think I have just the thing for this actually.”
He grabbed a pair of shockwave dampening gloves, stepping out of the suit toward the baby girl. “Hey, princess,” he cooed. “You had a stressful day, huh?” He slipped the gloves onto her hands, large and floppy on such tiny fingers, but he tightened the wrist straps. She slapped the ground, still crying. No quakes.
He strapped back into the suit, gently picking up the unconscious woman and the baby in his Mech’s hands and exiting the cave in carefully. “Mecha Man? What happened?”
“If I had to guess? The little princess here chose the worst timing to manifest her powers.” Mecha Man answered as he exited the building, heading towards the medics to get the likely mother and her child some attention. “Knocked herself under the building and her mother unconscious.”
“And you just… happened to have anti-shockwave gloves on you?” Malevola walked up with Sonar, peering around the mech at the pouting little girl.
“Shockwave powers are always a bitch. I learned to keep these on me in the field as much as possible.” Mecha Man shrugged, the mech following his action.
“Well. Mission well done, right, Jen?” Sonar said.
“Well, you evacuated the building perfectly, and even managed to contain the source of the shockwaves.” Jen sighed tiredly. “As for the condition of the building…”
They all turned around, seeing the building all but a pile of rubble and structural scaffolding. “It’s technically still standing? I’d say that counts.”
“Let’s hope the land owners think the same.”
The owners did think the same.
Actually, the owners were so overjoyed to have Mecha Man help them that rhey completely waved off the damages. Turns out having a beloved superhero show up helps smooth over issues.
“And the day is once again saved thanks to Mecha Man.” Sonar snarked on their way to the locker room after it was all over, though it lacked heat.
“It's what we do,” Mecha Man shrugged. They gathered up their stuff after the shift ended from the work locker room, the room falling into silence reflecting the lethargy of the exhausted people inside.
“Hey, man,” Sonar called put just as Mecha Man was about to step out, stopping him at the door. The bat looked down at his bags, his fingers twiddling around the straps. “I just wanna say…thanks, man, for the rescue, and the, not wanting me to hurt myself and everything?” Sonar cringed then sighed. “I… I dunno, most people—most other heroes—kinda just look at me and see a bat freak, or like, a hopeless addict case. Not a lot of people would’ve protected me back there.”
Mecha Man shrugged. “It's like I said. It’s what we do. We're teammates. It’d be shitty of me to treat you like some human shield.”
Sonar huffed a laugh, though it lacked humor. “You’d be surprised how little I even get treated as human.”
Mecha Man's brows furrowed as he turned away form the door to fully face Sonar, his voice solid iron in his conviction. “No matter who you are, human or bat, or both, you still deserve to get saved and be protected. The whole drug thing,” Mecha Man shrugged. “Not the best, but everyone's made mistakes, and everyone keeps making them. It's life. But you're trying, and you're helping people and that deserves respect.”
Sonar laughed again, this time more genuine. “Aw, Mechy, that's so sweet—” he teased.
“Mechy?” Mecha Man scrunched his nose up, as Sonar barreled on.
“You're a real waking fortune cookie. I didn't know the great Mecha Man was such a sap.” Sonar picked up his bag, waking over and slapping Mecha Man on the back. “I owe you one. Seriously, if you ever need money or anything, I got your back, man. I got good intel on the best stocks.”
“I don't think that's legal.” Mecha Man said slowly.
“Legal, schmegal” Sonar waved it off, walking out. “See you around, dude.”
Mecha Man stood there, suddenly overwhelmed. What a first day. He took a step forward, exiting himself, only to halt in place as Malevola peeled off the wall next to the door.
“Oh, hello, Malevola.” Mecha Man greeted, after definitely not flinching.
Malevola stared at him for a moment, sulfur eyes meeting hazel and then got straight to the point. “You were cool to Sonar. Thanks. I know he's annoying sometimes, but he is… softer than he seems.” She smiled despite herself. “He coulda handled that building but fuck knows he would've just complained about spraining his wing for the next week.”
Mecha Man nodded. “It's… what we do.” He shrugged.
Malevola sighed, rolling her eyes. “You are such a goody two shoes. But you're cooler than I thought. See ya.” And with a big swing if her giant sword, she stepped through the wall and Mecha Man was again alone.
Jesus. He was sooo gonna bitch to Chase about this whole day.