Chapter Text
It wasn’t anything to be surprised by, really. The first few years he had been Mecha Man, Robert maintained some license over the merch being made in his image. Of course, back then, it had mostly been Astral merch, maybe the occasional Prime figurine. After a few years, things slowly transitioned to Mecha Man Blue, and it contributed a lot to how he had been able to put millions into repairs and updates for a good decade.
All said repairs and updates still weren't cheap though, and put massive dents into his savings. It wasn’t like he was working an actual job outside of being a hero either and while merch always did well, he eventually stopped putting in the work for them. Too many meetings over licensing, too many new versions of the same mech every time he made an update or repair. Most importantly, too much time wasted when he could be out there, helping people.
It was only after the craziness of defeating Shroud, saving Torrance, and having a stable income, that Robert got curious. He was looking for a mattress on eBay — he figured it would be cheaper and totally safe if he was careful – when he started to wander. After a couple minutes of lying on his couch/bed and seeing nothing but listings that were too good to be true, he searched up ‘Mecha Man figurine’, just for shits and giggles. It ended up with him watching the last few minutes of an auction for an old busted figurine made about ten years ago.
He choked on air when it sold for a whopping 2755 USD.
That was more than his weekly paycheck.
On a busted figurine the size of his hand.
It wasn’t even fully articulated.
The original price was less than 20 bucks.
Robert wasn’t surprised, no, Mecha Man had always been a popular hero, and with nothing official made in years, it was a matter of supply and demand.
Based on the sheer number of bids that had been made in the last 5 seconds and the final price (wtf it more than tripled). There was cash to be made. There were such things as Phenomeman and Blonde Blazer figurines that SDN produced. Themed shirts, hoodies and collaborations-
No. That wasn’t the point of being a hero. He wasn’t in it for the money, and it went against what he stood for. Besides, he and Blazer, or rather, Mandy, were supposed to have a conversation about the future of Mecha Man and his partnership with SDN. He couldn’t be thinking about dealing with all that bureaucracy around licensing when he had more important things to think about.
The next morning, after concluding that he could wait to buy a mattress and that his couch was plenty comfortable, Robert got to the office early to get in a workout. He left Beef at Chase’s desk, which the rotund chihuahua was more than happy to do. What used to be a bed, a couple toys, and treats had spread like an infection. Boxes of bougie dog food, rare toppers of kangaroo meat of all things, and a mountain of toys, all generously donated by fellow staff members.
There was a passing thought that he could be the one to provide Beef with all that if he had the money.
In regards to the gym, Robert was pretty proud of himself. There was still muscle mass to be regained, but he was getting there. At least there hadn’t been another incident where he was almost crushed to death, and he was steadily filling into the shirt Blazer had accidentally ordered a size too large.
One hot shower that threatened to boil him alive later and Robert was headed to Blazer's, or rather, Mandy’s office. Ever since she had lent Chase her pendant, Mandy has been stuck with office work. There were only so many cars to send flying at giant mechs after all.
“Good morning, you’re looking less dead inside.” Robert gave an amused huff at the greeting, taking it in stride with a shrug.
“Well, you know what they say about exercise and dopamine.” Sitting down, he looked at Mandy’s desk, which was looking a lot less organized than it usually did. There were multiple foot-tall stacks of paper which made him go cross-eyed just looking at them.
“So… did you get bored and turn into the paper version of King Midas? Oh my god, does this make you Queen Mandy?” It was Mandy’s turn to huff at his words.
“Do you think so little of me that you think paperwork is what I would wish to turn things into?” Fair, one would have to be in an insane asylum to consider that their top choice in superpower.
“Okay, point taken.” Robert put his hands up in surrender. “But seriously, what is all this?”
“Some of this,” Mandy heaved most of the stacks of paper to the side, leaving two in between them, “is from Shroud and all the damage he did and researching-slash-repurposing the augments he made. Visi’s been keen on getting all that metal out of her body.”
“It definitely can’t be healthy.” Robert wasn’t really an expert on what was or wasn’t healthy, but remembered how Shroud looked even before he put the proto-pulse into his head. The man’s eyes had been bloodshot to hell, and Robert assumed it wasn’t from sleep deprivation, he was pretty sure they had been awake for the same amount of time barring when he was strung up like a piñata.
“So the rest of this?” He gestured to the remaining two piles of paper, taking a sheet off the top of one of them.
“Mecha Man stuff. The higher ups are really eager to set a date for a press conference about the future of Mecha Man and SDN. Personally, I would recommend reading it all. Corporate can get pretty slimy when they want to be.”
“I see...” Robert wasn’t sure if he would be able to read through everything within the next century, much less two weeks. With the rest of his body was already breaking down, it was a miracle his vision was intact and with these papers, that was probably going to go out the window.
“And I take it your suggestion comes from experience?” He remembered when they met, looking over his freshly relocated arm and seeing her shampoo advertisement in a bus. Mandy had made a comment about being a corporate hero back then too. He hoped it wasn’t something he had to be wary about.
“Nonono, not really. Just general advice. My experience has been great for the most part. Plus,” Mandy gestured to the mess on her desk, “it really is… paper. The main thing to look at now is just the details of your employment. Whether you want to be dispatcher, or dispatch-ee and the details of either of those. As Mecha Man, you have quite a bit of bargaining power.”
“So I’ve noticed…” His mind instantly went to the eBay auction from the night before.
“Hm?” Mandy raised a brow in curiosity, leading Robert to put the sheet in his hands back down.
“Oh nothing, I’ve just been doing some thinking myself. Is there a date that my, uh, counter offer…s are due?”
“Just the next two weeks for employment.”
“Gotcha.” Plenty of time to think.
Finally getting to his desk with a piping hot cup of coffee, Robert took a moment to take another look at Beef’s corner. Beef stared back at Robert, uninterested in moving from his bed, tilting his head in a way that reminded him of why everyone looked like they were going to jump Shroud if anything happened to him.
“Hey there my little guy!” Chase — Starblazer — came flying in. Scooping up the chihuahua up into the air. Chase had been looking so much happier and fulfilled now that he could zip around and so hero work again, and Robert empathized with the feeling. Even when he was undercaffeinated and aching all over, he hadn't even needed to think before telling Royd to boot up his suit, it was just a part of him and it was exhilarating to a degree to be back in action. He was glad Chase also got that opportunity.
“Who’s the bestest boy in the world? Yeah, you! That’s who!” Robert was pulled out of hie thoughts by the cooing and pampering of his dog.
“Well good morning to you too. My morning’s been great, thanks for asking. How was your morning?” Robert put a hand over his heart in mock offense.
“Fuck off, you know you could never compare to my boy Beef!”
“Uh, he's my dog Chase.” That comment earned him a pointed and smug look.
“Yeah? Well my little corner here says otherwise.”
‘Stupid corner’, Robert’s brain supplied before he wondered what the hell was wrong with himself.
Being petty over a dedicated corner for Beef was low, even for him, but Chase just looked way too proud of himself.
Fuck it.