Chapter Text
a neon pink sign stood below the silent light of the sardine bar the long street stood in a darkness. the Grimy bar stood out, like a anglers baiting light. Robert took a breath allowing the chaotic allure to excite him, he walked by golem promising a few drinks.
he was scared to keep asking if he wanted more.
‘Can he even metabolise alcohol, I know better than to ask him if he wants more than two drinks I’m broke.’
He walked up-to the bouncer.
“I don’t know you. And don’t like not knowing people.”
“Well in this case knowing him is gonna be a nightmare, biggest perv west of the LA river. Buut he’s with us.”
Robert tried to explain his innocence to the bouncer but was just warned instead.
He walked into the bar embarrassed trying to stave off his rising frustration. he walked forward brushing it off, immediately someone shoulder checked him someone familiar.
he forgot the person and quickly was plunged into the chaotic scene of the bar, people fought, broke shit threw shit a real no rules bar.
‘Matches the scene I played out I guess.’
The music was somewhat smooth, a massive dude with a reptilian face bumped into him too. He looked back with a glare.
“Not even a minute in, Does everybody need to fucking bump me.”
he looked around the place trying to spot his team, he saw invisigal at the bar, along with the z team placed everywhere. Armwrestling playing darts everything you’d imagine in a bar.
He watched invisigal try to get the bartenders attention, he chuckled at the irony.
“Feeling invisible?”
She looked at him unamused. “Buy me a drink.” Robert leaned against the bar speaking nonchalantly. “Is this for all the strings you had to pull to get me in here?”
She looked at him now un-unamused. “how perceptive, you always are. whiskey for the third date sounds like fun right. might end up in a wild night.” She enunciated each word in the latter half of her sentence.
“Maybe we can grab dinner after this, nothing too filling though just in case.” she raised her eyebrows a little leaning in more.
“Yeah I had a great time, wish you talked a little less though.” he smiled obviously teasing her. “Oh that’s fine I don’t really talk all that much, when I’m making things disappear.” She winked at him, as well as hitting him softly on the chest.
Robert thought for a moment. “Was that about sex?”
She turned pointing to her left. “You catch on quick! I’ll grab us a table.” Behind her was the same guy who bumped him, the lizard faced fucker by Robert’s own words. he stared at Robert while spreading his arms across the booth.
This guy gonna be a problem? He looked down, fucking SDN shirt.
“Two fancy whiskeys please.” as he said that mal, punch up and prism came up. “Make that three.”
“Four.”
“Make it five.”
the bartender looked to Robert. “Five fancy whiskeys?”
“No, Uhh no 10 shitty whiskeys.”
“Good lad.” He turned back while patting Robert. “We shoulda invited him earlier.”
“We thought he was fukin narc.” Prism leaned back a little more correcting mal. “Never said that, said he reminded me of my ex and he’s got buzzkill energy.”
Robert leaned forward. “I am a narc, you fucked up. everyone else seems to get that too. But Yeah I guess this SDN shirt wasn’t gonna get taken ironically… despite my hopes.”
“Ah this guys got jokes huh.”
“Well a narc wouldn’t say that.”
Prism tapped mal. “Yeah unless that what he knew a narc wouldn’t say.”
“Ohhh so uno reverse-o type shit.”
As he turned around his smile fading, the lizard man blocked his way. “Excuse me.” Robert looked at him unamused. He did some kind of growl before stepping to the side.
He handed the first drink to waterboy, he sat sullenly next to a skinny guy. he’d messed a few of z team up with his uncontrollable water so he wasn’t taken too kindly.
Next flambae. “Hey Robert am I gonna look like a dumbass if I sing Whitney Houston?”
“Uh are you Whitney Houston.”
“No.”
“Then yeah you are.”
Flambae looked at the song choices lamenting. “Fuck he’s right.”
next golem, Robert passed him two which went right down his sinkhole. He also had to pay off the bouncer with a whiskey.
He passed another two whiskeys to coupe and sonar. Respectively they thanked him, it wasn’t too heartfelt but it meant a lot. Things were changing, he also knew how embarrassing it must be to thank your boss for that. So he treated it as if it was a no brainer.
He finally found invisigal in a booth alone. he walked over whiskey in hand and sat down, he looked around a little. she put out her smoke picking up the whiskey.
“Everybody things I’m gonna report them to SDN or some shit, urgh I was hoping they’d take the shirt as a joke or sarcasm fuck I don’t know.”
“you talking about this bar or the team? Because either way without the shirt, they could still smell the hero on you, You’re the enemy. You could just take off your shirt… if it’s that much of a problem.” She raised an eyebrow to Robert, Robert waved off the smoke.
“Dad bod remember? Yeah the z team, I bought them drinks what else do they want?”
She raised her drink and moved her hand as she motioned dramatically. “you can buy em drinks, make sure they don’t get fired, Line em up blow em. but they’re still gonna think you might be the hero who fucked up their life.”
“Yeah well what if I did… fuck up their life.” she stopped drinking her drink choking on those words. “Oh.”
He looked at the burning cigarette recounting his entanglement of justice with flambae, he felt as if he was back in that moment.
His shield was assaulted by a spitting fire, the heat corralled over him. His shield started adopting red molten dots.
“Stand down immediately.” his robotic voice ordering. he felt strange satisfaction remembering that, that baseless emotionless metal voice.
“You took his finger? Thought he lost them at a deli or something!” She sipped her drink. “And there was this incident at crypto.”
“Shit you took his eyebrows too, brutal.” She thought about it.
‘Wasn’t that the night he was with blazer? How’d she let that go down?’ She lampooned.
“Yeah, flambae would definitely fucking incinerate me so kinda off the table.” She raised one eyebrow questioningly before her brows furrowed. “We all pay for who we use to be.” She picked up her drink with a point. “Sooner you get it over with, sooner we get a fresh start.”
“That’s funny coming from you.”
She raised her eyebrow again, this time almost offended. “The fuck?”
“Hey don’t get on me it’s true. You came to the program with a ‘no questions asked’ you haven’t told anybody about your past, have you? Which I can get. Kinda like-“
Some guy cut him off. “Who let a loser ass bitch of a hero into our supervillain bar.”
“Hah I really should’ve just taken my shirt off.” invisigal quickly quipped. “You’ll get the chance big guy.”
he looked at her with a blank expression.
“Whatever, is he big? He’s got big guy voice.”
“Some parts of him are big?” Robert confused turned around. He saw the guy with big robot arms to make up for his deformed human arms. “Ah I see, next time let’s go to tgi fridays or some shit.”
He got up as he spoke. “Are you lost of sum bitch.” His eyes were focused on invisigal, he glanced at her with confusion. “Why’d you pick this bar there’s plenty around, you got a fucking death wish.”
Robert undeterred stepped up. “Since you’re twisting my arm.” Robert got slapped with the guys deformed hand. “No fucking talking to you, idiota.” He then grabbed him throwing him across the room. as he got up a little dazed. ‘Not talking to me?’
Across the bar visi laughed. “I see they finally gave you some arms that can reach your dick, now all you need is some twisters and a magnifying glass.” he grabbed her as she talked. “Some people who wanna talk to you invisibitch.” She kicked him in the balls as the rest of the red ring rose. Shrouds gang, Robert looked around rising as well, yet his was aptly stopped a pool Que cracked against the back of his skull.
he layed on the small wall of a fast food joint, groaning. His head rung. Mal walked up with a cold ice water in hand. “Here try this.”
“Thanks.” He pressed it against his throbbing jaw the pain made him flinch.
Waterboy walked out with two trays of food, he said something about money. Robert would deal with it later everything was making little sense to him right now, or he didn’t care to pay attention.
“I ordered three triple crunch tacos.”
A straw was handed to him instead. He held the straw with a shaking hand.
Ready to plunge it in.
He plunged the darts into the man with robotic arms cheek. well remembered it everything was a little scattered, invisigal kicked him in the face while Robert was grabbed by some mantis lady.
The chick threatened to plunge ethereal mantis legs into his body, he quickly threw her with the use of his shoulder and hips.
Back to the moment he received a burrito, he complied that it wasn’t what he asked for. invisigal promptly cut him off, sharing her knowledge that every item was just 5 ingredients remixed into different shit.
“Anyways hot sauce!” She threw the hot sauce at him.
The hot sauce hit him right between the eyes.
“Holy shit, headshot.” Her expression quickly became pensive. “Seriously though are you drunk or concussed.”
Golem pitched into the conversation. “Probably both, heard he took some friendly fire.”
Robert just clicked, pointing a finger gun at him.
He picked up the sauce packet ripping it from the side.
Somewhat like how he ripped the implant out of the mantis woman’s head, he pulled with a fury, the short implant slinky metal body of it came out limp with a sticky red blood accompanied.
Robert watched the bar descend into chaos people being blinded, mauled, burnt. punch up routinely punched every man’s weak spot… including Robert by accident.
Robert sauced his burrito while looking at the video prism took. everybody was.
“Did you wash your hands after touching all those filthy ballsacks.” Punch up in the middle of licking his fingers spoke. “Ah thought they seemed salty.” Robert winced amused yet disgusted. He dryly chuckled sitting back down.
As he went to bite down on his burrito Malevola actuely snatched it away.
“Ohh there she is, Sauced it up and everything thanks babes, think your looking for these.” She revealed three triple crunch tacos.
“Sweet.” Malevola smiled. “Me or the tacos?” Robert acted as he hadn’t heard her.
Happily biting into the lizard man’s finger, he spat it out quickly before being dragged to the bathroom, he tried to thwart the drag by pressing his feet into the ground to no avail. He pressed his hips up struggling, out the corner of invisigals eye she saw his struggle.
she fought dirty, throwing things, scratching, gouging. she pushed away from the man now reeling in pain, her bloodied figure confidently although messily trudged to the bathroom.
she held her breath appearing in the doorway, she appeared her tired and battered face stared cautiously at Robert. he slumped against the sink huffing, the lizard man layed on the floor shards of glass embedded in his cheeks.
She smiled weakly it was uneven flickering in and out, her trembling lips were split.
she noticed a cut on Robert eyebrow, she walked over licking her thumb wiping it down.
“Never doubted you.” A sarcastic weighted smirk edged on her face. Robert looked up with a slight amusement. “Thanks for worrying.” the words looked at her, dead in the face.
She cared. “Yeah let’s wait a bit before getting all cutesy still more to do.” she looked down, the blooded shards of a mirror reflected him and her. With a crimson film, she pulled Robert goaded him back into the violent brawl.
They worked as a team deconstructing the rest of the augmented red ring, breaking the mans already undeveloped arms.
Invisigal broke in half a crisp churro. “Yeah weird the thing, how easy it was. I mean they gave up like no resistance.”
Golem continued on. “Hey maybe give us a heads up next time you wanna start a fight, I wanted another drink.”
Robert closed his eyes for a second. “You’re hero’s now, that means people are gonna start shit for no reason. For gain, evil all of it problem is you sign up for it all, every fight whether you like it or not you finish it.”
they all started a up cheer. “Wooooo.”
Malevola spoke her voice that same distorted present sound. “Well not many finish fights against the red ring.”
Prism jumped on that train of thought. “Yeah how do you have beef with them mister dispatcher.” Punch up too. “Yeah we know this Robert guy is a front who are you, really?”
He pressed his head in his hands dragging them across his face. He looked past his fingers finding invisigals weird expression. “Well before I say this just keep an eye on flambae because he’ll probably incinerate me.”
They looked confused, flambae tilted his head down working out what could possibly cause that response.
“Robert is a front, well not entirely but it’s me biding my time waiting for the perfect moment to get back into the fight. im starting to like you all, so I’ll be honest and for us to be a great team we need that, trust… the real me Is mecha man.”
Punch up stood up in disbelief a myrid of comments were made. “Can’t be.”
“Could be.”
“That’s like a real superhero.”
“It is you. MOTHERFUCKER.”
Robert stood up his hands open out in front of him. “I get that, I know I fucked up a part of your li-“ a blazing fire shot at him as he spoke. Golem somehow got in front of it in time, the heat even behind golem was scorching.
a drink hit the back of flambae head covering him in water. “What the fuck man.” invisigal was visibly upset, waterboy vomited more water onto him. the z team started to laugh, mildly ridiculing him.
Flambae turned around in all directions. “Fuck you fuck all of you fuckers.”
He ignited himself jumping off into the sky. “Flambae!” Robert tried to talk to him.
He turned away from the sky his eyes still pinned to the side. “Thanks golem you saved my life.”
“Thanks for the drink.”
“Uh not too sure what to say, I expected to be on fire by now so uh… anyone wanna share something.”
Invisigal kicked her feet she stretched her arms out. “Um, I’m Courtney.”
Robert grinned softly. “Nice to meet you Courtney.”
“I- they call me herman, my g grandma calls me herm.”
they all started to share there names.
Sonar was Victor, coupe was Janelle, golem Bruno, punch up colm, prism Alice, Malevolas last name was gibb. Robert couldn’t help but feel more connected, he looked at invisigal a slightly different expression showing.
Invisigal dreaded that exact look, she saw it she froze. The doubts and guilt started to boil, Robert saw her. The dubious playful remarks couldn’t help her anymore, she looked back sadly then adverted her gaze disappearing.
Robert winced at the sight of that a pained look forming. ‘What’s she hiding. Why won’t she tell me?’
“Alright everybody let’s all head home.”
He stayed making sure everybody had a ride, or was simply confident that they’d get home. in the silent almost light early early morning. he stood there.
“Invisigal are you here? I want to talk to you about this, I- I’m not sure what’s so crazy that you couldn’t risk getting out.”
He stopped, looking around he wasn’t talking to anyone.
Already miles away Courtney stepped carelessly. ‘What am I gonna do.’