Chapter Text
“So, you would consider the phoenix program a success, right?” Blonde Blazer egged out, slightly shifting in her office chair. She moved some strands of hair behind her ear, not purposely, it was just a habit. A cute one, Robert thought.
“Right…” Robert replied.
His head was honestly elsewhere, thinking about how he’d be sitting in a very different chair if HR did their fucking job. He’d heard the most egregious conversation about what it feels like to be inside of a cervix from Sonar and Waterboy.
Sonar was…a blunt guy, bad at lying so why bother type of guy. Waterboy stuttered a ridiculous question about something he’d heard in a movie, and Sonar was more than smug describing what it felt like pushing into a cervix – which was probably a bluff. He was too proud, boasting proud, and that was a telltale that he didn’t know what he was talking about. Waterboy didn’t catch it though, he was thoroughly impressed.
Even so, it made Robert put his hand on his lower face and hold it there with those tired eyes, trying to think about anything else. This was his goddamn problem, he was sex deprived. That conversation should NOT be in his head, and it usually wouldn’t be.
“Robert? Hello?”
He heard that through the fog.
“Yes, sorry?”
“So you’ll do it?” She had a worried smile.
She’d never ask too much of him, he thought. Except, when she asked the impossible with the Z-Team. But he made that work, so the sky was the limit. Right?
“Sure,” He said, levelled, “And run it by me one more time?” He tilted his head slightly like a curious dog with an apologetic, not really, smile.
She smirked, “Right…We’re thinking about doing something similar with a different dispatcher, and I wanted you to show them the ropes. We need more dispatchers and heroes, but I don’t have time to mentor, and Chase, he’s…”
“Annoying? Rude?”
“I was going to say disagreeable,” She sighed, “I wanted you to do it. You can say no of course, but it’d be a big help, and honestly, they offered dual HR, and we need more of that.” Then she looked at him. Her eyes stared into his, and for some reason he didn’t want to look away.
His eyes subconsciously dipped down to her mouth, but he quickly corrected himself. What was wrong with him today?
“I already said sure, you can stop looking like that.”
“Oh, thank God,” She sighed. “It’s hard to keep puppy eyes.” She joked.
Is that what that was? He was more focused on the smile, her lips. It was nice, and her voice was smooth. He adjusted himself in his chair, he felt antsy.
“You seem to have it down,” He commented, “So, do you have the file of this mysterious person, or?” This was do-able. He could focus on the file.
The back of his mind worried about his scent, but he took scent blockers, at least he thought so. He hoped so. For some reason he couldn’t remember.
Blonde Blazer pulled a file from her cabinet, and put it on the desk, pushing it towards Robert. He looked at her before looking down at the file. He opened it, keeping it down on the desk.
The first thing he noticed was the picture that came with the file. Nice hair, pretty face, she looked pissed. He understood that. Black or dark brown thin braided hair. It was styled in a half up, half down style, with a swoop of hair on the left of her forehead, leading into the updo bun with hair coming out. The down part was long, to her chest, and it curled nicely at the end. Her skin was dark brown, and she had a mole under her right eye. Almond shaped, squinted probably due to the flash, with dark brown irises. Her nose was cute too, it was wide and small. And her lips, god, he was too distracted, he closed the file.
“Looks good.” He said, pushing it towards Blonde Blazer.
“That’s it?” She raised her eyebrow.
He shrugged, simply. “Yeah, looks alright. Were you looking to gossip or something?” He smirked.
“Can’t get anything past you, Robert,” She hummed. “She has no prior job experience with heroes, or anyone really, and she has a degree in Creative Writing. When I first interviewed her, she said she was a hero herself and she used to lead a juvenile group of teenage heroes, like I added in the note section,” She paused for a second to look at him, “But, the team never existed, and she’s never been a hero. She does have a minor in communications though…”
Robert raised his eyebrow now. What was even the point of hiring a pathological liar? Was this a test to see what he could take, or were times really getting this low? It’d been a couple months since everything went down. Coupé was finally comfortable with the team again, Waterboy was being laughed at a little less after the third meeting about teamwork, and Robert was actually starting to sleep on a mattress with his salary.
Blonde Blazer must’ve caught on to his suspicion because she sighed and took the file back, “Look, we need the help. More dispatchers, more heroes. Even if the dispatcher is…Not as qualified as Mecha Man.” He huffed out a laugh.
“Alright, when does this start?” He asked.
“She’ll be here tomorrow…” Blonde Blazer said apologetically, “and I know you’ll be busy, but Chase suggested the faster the better, and I wasn’t going to argue.”
“Okay…And she’ll just be at my desk while I’m working?” He rolled his shoulders, getting ready to get up and go.
“Yep, you’ll just be showing her the ropes. She’s going to work with amateurish heroes, we’re trying something new. Much like the Z-team they have their own criminalities, but they’re not…villains.”
“So, we’re dealing with petty theft and money laundering?” He questioned.
“Yeah, and also murderers,” She added. “What’s new, right?”
“Everything about that is new…” Robert deadpanned.
She gave a knowing smile, and who was he to ask anymore questions. “Right! Well, I’m sure it’ll be fine! Just show her the ropes, and make sure you mention how you’ve heard about her heroism journey. She gets really nervous and finicky, but it’s important she keeps the lie up. There’s going to be times where she has to lie and keep a persona.”
He nodded.
“That’s it then! Get back to dispatching, Robert, or Rob Bob.”
He groaned at that nickname.
“No? I thought that was your new thing?”
“No, it’s…an annoying nickname from the team.”
He could tell she wanted to say it again, but held herself back. She wasn’t above teasing, but she knew when to poke. He liked that about her.
—
As soon as he walked out of her office, Invisigal stopped holding her breath. She was leaning against the wall, arms crossing, chewing gum or tobacco, he didn’t care anymore.
“So, getting a new recruit Bobby Boy?” She smirked.
“Why are you here?” He asked, walking down the hallway, expecting her to follow behind him. She did, like a dog.
He looked back at her, his eyes looking down at her ankle monitor. He looked forward again. It wasn’t lost on him what Invisigal did, and though he’s all about redemption, the law is not. And, he didn’t forget the locker room. He tried to look past it, but there was always a slight uncomfortability, she knew that.
“Sonar said he heard you talking to Blonde Blazer and I thought, why not take one for the team and listen in,” She explained, walking in front of him so she could walk backwards. “But I had to stop listening halfway through because this video on my phone got super interesting, so, what’s going on?”
He played pingpong with the idea of telling her or not. It wasn’t like it was a secret, but he’d much rather see how far she was willing to go to get the information. A please would be nice. What?
“A new dispatcher is getting hired and she wanted me to mentor them. They’re getting a team of amateurs, so we'll see how it goes.”
“A girl?” She questioned slowly.
“Why? You interested?” He smirked.
“Just need to know the competition.” She smirked back. Quick to flirt. It made his smile drop.
“There’s more competition than women,” He said, “Now get back to work. Chase was supposed to be sending you guys out.”
“Whatever Rob Bob! Keep your secrets. Also Chase sucks ass at dispatching, you knew that.” She smiled before going invisible.
He already hated this week.
But, the day was fine. A bet was going around about whether the new dispatcher would flirt with Robert or not. He never thought of himself as so desirable until he joined this team. He was getting flirted with everyday, even by Waterboy and Phenomenaman, who surely didn’t know they were flirting. It’s enough to make a guy conflicted. Everyone flirted differently too.
Sonar left things for him on his desk in the morning and afternoon, and then shrugged like it was nothing, accustomed with a stupid compliment. “Do something with your hair?” His hair has never changed.
Flambae disguised his compliments as insults. “You look like shit, and like you need a drink.” He always seemed to slip in doing something somewhere.
Mal liked tussling his hair and holding the back of his neck when she leaned down to talk to him as he was sitting down. Subtle touching, but hard to miss.
Punch up complimented him all the time, constant praise, “Looking good laddy, the shirt on ya.” And he’d pat him on his lower back.
Coupe would glare at him and speak carefully. “Robert, you smell good.” And she’d give him a look over before walking away.
Waterboy was still a stuttering mess, even with his compliments and suggestions. “R-Robert, ha-have you, um, ever been to t-the new, um, taco p-place? We–I mean you–sh-should go…and look nice. Well, you–you already look nice! I just–”
Phenomenaman was blunt, and questioning. “Robert, I’ve noticed you are quite beautiful when focused. Why is that?”
Prism was very confident. “Hey handsome, if you send me on another bullshit mission I’ma fuck you up in a way you not gon’ like.” Maybe he would.
Golem wasn’t one to flirt. But he was less of an asshole.
Invisigal wasn’t very shy with her flirting, she was really quite vulgar. “Nice ass, Robbie.” It really made him feel seen in a way he didn’t know what to do with.
And Blazer, well, the way she looked at him was flirting enough.
Tomorrow needed to come sooner.
And then it came. All of it came. They were in a conference room. By they, Robert means, the new dispatcher and her team assembly. There was no way in hell he could mentor an entire team, so he offered the Z-team an “off day” if they helped him. Coupe and Phenomenaman were out, so it was eight to eight.
—
“So, today we’re going to practice going on missions. My team, the Z-Team, will help you new heroes on your missions, get into the groove of things, and I’ll help your dispatcher navigate utilizing all your strengths. Alright?”
“Alright.” Was the general response.
“I’m going to pair everyone based on file, so, if you don’t get along, get used to it. It’s part of the job.” He said, picking up the eight files and using two of his fingers to gesture to the new dispatcher to come over to him. She smelled good.
“Have you read these?” He asked quietly.
“Yeah, an interesting group.” She said quietly.
“Good as your last?” He smiled. He wasn’t above teasing either.
“We’ll see!” She answered confidently. He wondered how people lied through their teeth so easily. “I read about your team too, and Chase gave me the rundown. That guy, he’s funny,” She smiled, “And so is your team apparently.”
“They have their moments.” He smiled back, he was really proud of their progress as a team. “Are you suggesting who to pair who with?”
“Not suggesting. Telling,” She corrected, looking at him, expecting him to look back. And, he did. It was a weird pull, an influenced pull maybe. An alpha thing, he was sure. They expected omegas to listen.
“Maybe I’ll give you an explanation after we get this over with – everyone is impatient.” She tried to save it. That’s what that was, right?
“Sure,” He replied, “And you can give me a million dollars too, right?”
This conference room felt stuffed, even though it technically wasn’t. There simply weren't enough seats, and the Z-Team got here first so, tough luck!
“What do you want to eat at home?” Sonar whispered to Mal.
“Of course you’re thinking about food.” She snickered.
She was relaxed in her seat, leaned back and arms crossed with a smile on her face.
Sonar had his legs crossed and his arms crossed, like a professional! Except he forgot to fix his bored face expression, and Mal thwipped her tail on the ground making him tilt his head down to watch.
“So, what is this for again?” Punch Up nudged Waterboy.
“F-For the new team?” Waterboy responded, a little confused by the question.
He was still a jittering-shy-insecure mess, which showed by his dripping wet hair and skin. He’d just gotten back from a mission with Punch Up, and everyone got wet. Punch Up’s hair was stuck to his face and he didn’t bother to move it, trying to convince Waterboy (and himself) it looked fine.
“Ah, right,” Punch up huffed. “I was half asleep when he said that. Know he talks so low?” Punch Up yawned, and looked at Waterboy, as if he was supposed to agree.
“I mean, y-yeah he can be quiet, but you were wide awake…” Waterboy mumbled in case it backfired.
“God, I miss when you were scared of me.”
“Still am, s-sir.”
Prism was humming one of her songs and moving her head, tapping her fingers on the table.
Flambae had his head on her shoulder with his eyes closed, but he was wide awake, he claimed.
Golem sat on the floor eating something everyone looked twice at.
Invisigal was careful watching Robert and the new dispatcher without a name apparently. They made eye contact, her and the dispatcher, and there was a wire of tension. It made Invisigal smirk. So she was competition.
“Alright, we’re going to get you in pairs and send you out. It’s a little early–”
“A little?” Mal interjected, clearly amused with how hard Robert was trying to make this event seem flexible.
Robert looked at her with his 10x awarded deadpan and continued. “But, you all can do it if you play nice.”
----
“The teams are as follows,” The other dispatcher started, going through the files. “Sonar and Dime Piece.”
“Yes!” Sonar gave himself a quiet fist up.
“C’mon bat boy.” Dime Piece said, walking over to him.
She was in a magician outfit, except she wasn’t. But she was. She had a tucked in frilled white shirt, a red band around her waist, and a cut body suit. Fishnets on her legs, thigh high wedge boots. She was holding her cropped black blazer and her black, with a red band, top hat. Not to mention the red perfect bow on her neck. She had long eyelashes, and sharp thin eyeliner, and lipgloss, and hoop earrings, and she had a long side swept bang to the left of her face, and her hair tied up in a long, black ponytail. An African-American woman with dark brown skin and dark brown eyes.
“Let’s go.” She said, putting the hat over him, and he disappeared. Poof. Gone. As if he were never there. She pulled a wand out of the hat and drew a line on the floor like it was chalk. Maybe it was some kind of magical chalk because the floor beneath her opened, and she stepped right in. It closed like a zip-up.
“Where the hell did he go?” Punch Up, questioned, bewildered.
“Nowhere he doesn’t want to be…” Mal answered, not so sure herself.
----
“Waterboy and Kiss & Tell.” The dispatcher called.
Kiss & Tell was very enthusiastic. An Indian woman; She had blunt bangs and long black hair that traveled down to her legs. She wore a neck drooped dark purple drape dress, wrapping a linear piece around her neck. A Tikka rested on the middle part of her hair, the rounded jewelry sitting on her forehead. The makeup on her face was sharp and graphic. Clean cut dark purple eyeliner, purple gradient eyeshadow, and a light purple dark purple lip combo. It looked good with her brown eyes, and brown skin. Oh, and she had these heels. Purple heels, of course, with butterfly wings on the heel. Not at all practical for combat, but that was here nor there.
“Alright!” Kiss & Tell cheered. “Come on, white boy! We’ve got so much to do!” She smiled. She had tooth gems, small purple hued transparent gems.
“A-Alright!” Waterboy said. It felt good to be wanted. That’s what this was, right? She was happy they were paired together? Being called white boy though, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“I’ve always liked getting wet.” She grabbed Waterboy out of his seat and dragged him along with her by his hands. She was strong, or maybe he was flimsy. As they left, she danced and twirled. She smelled like lavender, and it wasn’t her natural pheromone scent, it was stronger than that. Perfume probably, or maybe she bathed in Lavender for twenty hours.
----
“Invisigal and Radiance.”
Radiance was a humanoid peacock. She had a peacock head and peacock feathers all on her body. She had a greenish blue color, and her array of feathers were on her tail that dragged on the floor. She wore a blue, soft furred, cropped bra shaped shirt, and long flared pants accompanied with a long sweater that connected with one tan button. The designs on the clothing were peacock feathers. She had long blonde, and blue (at the ends) hair in a ponytail. Her hair was stiff and stood like a hairbrush in the ponytail. It didn’t take a genius to tell she was an older woman.
“Alright Auntie, let’s go.” Invisigal said, putting her phone in her pocket.
“Haven’t been called that in a while.” Radiance hummed, amused. She was only 49.
“Hey, you like people watching?” Invisigal asked, walking to the door.
Radiance followed, walking with an interesting grace. “I love people watching.”
Robert wanted to call out telling Visi to stay focused, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Something was off with him today. He felt calmer, sanctioned.
----
“Prism and Old Fashion.” She called.
Old Fashion was a short guy. Only an inch taller than Punch Up, half the strength. He wore a typical bartender black suit and had on black gloves. A red tail poked from the back of his pants and had an upside down heart at the end of it. His skin was red, his ears pointed out, his hair fringed in an endearing way, and his eyes red with slits. He had a goatee, and tattoos on the right of his neck, and down his arms. Could be mistaken for a member of the mafia, or a member wannabe. RBF to an extreme, and it was intentional this time around. He spoke with an Italian-New York accent.
They made eye contact.
“Want a picture?” She looked him up and down.
“Don’t want nightmares.” He scoffed.
“Im’a give you a nightmare, bitch.” She got out of her seat, and he got off the wall.
“Yeah? Well come on then!”
“Calm down–”
“Who was talking to you?”
“Shut the hell up, Robert.”
“Ay!” The dispatcher interjected. “Fix that attitude shit real quick. We got real shit to do.” The other dispatcher snipped.
“Yeah, okay.” Old Fashion held his glare on Prism.
“Keep up, little boy.” She said, gesturing her hand to his body. The actual Prism was walking out the door.
He said a few curse words, and hexes surely, before leaving out the door.
----
“Mal’ and The Vaquero.”
The Vaquero was a tall man, which typically meant nothing to Mal’. But, they were face to face same height. He held his hands on his belt, like he was in a western. He was an indigenous man, one of the Nahua people from Mexico and the Lakota people from the U.S. His skin was a tanned brown, and his hair was dark brown, long to others, short to him, it sat at his shoulders. Unstyled, just naturally perfect. He had hooded brown eyes and a resting stare that seemed unkind. He wore a brown cowboy hat, a button up shirt, a belt holster holding a gun and a lasso, tasseled chaps, jeans, and cowboy boots. He spoke with a southern accent, a deep voiced southern accent. He was raised in the south, by his grandparents it sounded like.
“Hell yeah, man!” Mal got out her chair.
“How’d’ya do, ma’am?” The Vaquero tipped his hat.
“What film are you from?” She joked.
“Hmm,” He smiled, “The Lego movie?” He shrugged, smug-like. He thought he was funny.
“Sure, the Lego movie,” She grabbed her sword from her side and opened a portal for them. “More like Tombstone.”
“Ooh! You know, I been tryin’ ta sound more like Rango.” He laughed, walking into the portal.
“I fucking love Rango.” Mal’ said, more serious than she should’ve.
----
“Flambae and Octopus Man.”
Octopus Man had an octopus head and a human body. A nice, muscular human body. The sleeves of his blazer looked like they’d bust at the seams if he flexed slightly. But the distraction of his body wasn’t enough to not notice his orange octopus head, a full octopus for a head, with tentacles that hovered in the air. His eyes were big and he had yellow horizontal pupils.
“After you, Sparkler.” He said, and to an untrained ear he sounded casual. But Flambae knew it was mocking, not to mention that stupid fucking nickname.
“Fuck off, Squid Boy.” Flambae retorted.
They glared at each other like cats, before both gunning to the door.
----
“Punch up and Lorde.”
Lorde, she had a lot going on. She wore Decora fashion today and Gyaru makeup. It'd be impossible to list every item she had on or describe the way her makeup fit her face. She changed her style everyday, to keep up with the fans of course. Because she was famous. Like really famous, like secret services walked in the building a day before she arrived famous. She was a Puetro-Rican woman with soft blonde dyed hair. The dye was so good, it was only known she’s not originally blonde because she said it. Her skin was a slight brown and her eyes were hazel.
“Let’s make something shake grandpa!”
“Ay, I’m not that fucking old!”
“Yeah…you totally are.” She snickered. “And listen, I have a lot of fans, so don’t be surprised if you’re on the news, okay?” She said as she walked, making a hand butterfly.
Punch up looked at Robert, “I’m going to be on T.V.” He whispered, before running off behind her. “What was that thing you did with your hands!” He called out.
----
“And finally, Golem and Starlit!”
Starlit was adorned in platinum stars, as accessories. She wore an all black, definitely alternative outfit. She wore a black, skin tight body suit beneath her other clothing. Her other clothing were shorts, short-shorts, with a belt of platinum stars, like how cowboys would wear their ammo. She had on a tube top made purely of different white and black belts, and a leather jacket. Along with the black body suit, she had on a lace body suit with roses embedded inside. She wore black fur boots. Her hair was black, with horizontal white rat tails and diamonds (like on the card) colored in. On her face, she had a tattoo on the bottom of her left eye with three diamonds. She had a nose stud piercing, and a stud lip piercing. Her makeup was subtle, white on the inner corner of her eye leading into her black eyeliner and long eyelashes. She had deep brown skin, a Haitian woman.
“Sick.” Golem grumbled.
“What’s up, Go’?” Starlit smiled, her black grilled teeth showing. Flower and star tooth gems shone. “You like Olley’s?”
“Love Olley’s." Golem replied.
Again, Robert wanted to tell them to stay on track, but he couldn’t form the words. He just sighed.
They started walking out and whispering, and Starlit was obviously pointing at Robert.
----
“So, then that leaves us.” He says.
“That it does,” The dispatcher hummed. “So, how’d I do? I was so nervous.”
“You were nervous?” He raised his eyebrow, “You talked to them like you’re an army general.”
“Got that dominance in me, I guess.” She smiled.
Robert hummed in a measly agreement, thinking more about the dominance aspect. How far does the dominance extend? For once, Robert wouldn’t mind taking orders. Like, right now he’d…do a lot of things. A lot of things.
“Robert,” She called out, grabbing his face and pressing her thumb and four fingers into his cheeks. “Focus.”
“Wha-ugh?” He looked at her with furrowed brows.
She looked at him, really looked at him, and her nose twitched. “You…” She let him go, but she didn’t move, neither did he, and he kept his deadpan. “Your heat is soon.” She said, leaning back.
“Really?” Robert crossed his arms. He knew this. It was supposed to come in a couple days, and it wasn’t anything new for an Alpha to think they’re helping out by letting an Omega know about their own body. But, there could be truth to what was being said. He was acting really weird today, distracted more than usual.
“No, like, in an hour soon.” She said, a little concerned. “Something triggered it.”
“What?” His deadpan switched to subtle concern.
“Listen man, I don’t know,” She said, crossing her own arms. “I have this weird thing where I can tell when something's developing in someone’s body.”
“Oh, so you also have powers?” He said, raising his eyebrows slightly. He wondered if this was another lie. He really didn’t want to skip her training and set his team ablaze. He also wouldn’t
mind a day off if it was a lie. Who was he to call her out, right? Maybe she wasn’t lying this time.
“Ha ha.” She rolled her eyes.
“Alright, I’ll go home early,” Robert said with a smile. He didn’t care to argue, Blazer would surely understand. She would understand because he wasn’t going home. He was going to take a spare headset, connect it to his dispatch, and simply listen. He’d give Beef a walk.
“After I show you what you’re going to be doing. We don’t have time for the tutorial, so you’ll work at my desk, alright?”
“Yes, sir.” She smiled.
Been a while since he was called sir. It felt nice to hear honorifics in an office of “Rob-Bob”, and Bobert, and Bobby boy.
They walked out, and an overwhelming number of voices hit their ears. The Z-team, most of them, didn’t leave the jobsite, they just showed the new people around and filled them in on gossip, and what to and what to not eat. He heard twinkies being talked about, and he saw a bundle on his desk. Robert ignored this, guiding the new dispatcher to his seat. She sat down, spinning in the chair once, and was greeted by Beef, who was an excellent judge of character.
He put the headset on her and held one hand on his shoulder as he showed her exactly where everything was, the settings on the headphones, and how to actually dispatch. When he was done, he patted her shoulders, picked up Beef, and Chase argued him into letting Beef stay.
“Good luck.” He waved.
“Don’t need it.” She blew a kiss and waved him goodbye.
He wondered if that counted as flirting, and what the prizepool for the bet was. He smiled and walked off, stepping into Blazer’s office.
“Hey,” He said, “Do you have spare headsets?”
“Yeah, they’re in the closet.” Blazer responded, not looking at him, but looking in the mirror. She was getting ready for another big event. A hero convention, he heard. He got the headset and left. He was taking himself on a walk it turned out.
----
“Okay, team, Robert had to step out so I’m going to be your dispatcher!”
“What happened to Boberto?” Sonar asked.
“Boberto? Really?” Dime Piece asked.
“Oh, it gets so much worse.” Sonar mused.
“Could be Robby-Lobby!” Lorde gave an exaggerated sigh.
“It is, actually.” Sonar snickered.
“Robbie-dobby is personally my favorite. He hates that one.” Mal chimed in.
“I think he hates Rob Rob Rob more.” Invisigal snickered. “Gave us a good lecture about it.”
“Rob Rob Rob can give as many speeches as he wants,” Punch up laughed, then it died. “Where is he again?”
“His heat was coming, so I sent him home.” The dispatcher said casually, adjusting the headset on her head. She was trying to listen to what Robert said, really. But, she couldn’t, she was too distracted, not by him, but by something else.
Silence.
“What!?” Flooded the comms.
----
Robert laughed at this, eating a subway sandwich he bought down the street. He wondered if he should really go home, but as soon as he left the building he felt fine. Completely fine, it was weird, as if something about the building was triggering his instincts. Maybe that was the case. He’d look into it tomorrow. He wondered if he should tell the time, was it really a pressing matter?
----
“Anyway, we’re getting calls.” The dispatcher moved on.
“Wait a minute–you’re just gonna drop that on us and move on? How’d he get home?” Invisigal pressed.
“Oh?” The dispatcher smiled. “Robert can handle himself. If you guys do good enough I’ll tell you exactly what happened at lunch.”
“I-I hope he-he’s okay…” Waterboy muttered.
“Groovy.” Golem agreed.
“I can’t wait to hear about this shit!” Prism laughed.
“I can.” Flambae grumbled.
“Boy, don’t be mad because you–” Prism started.
“Shut up!”
“Anyone want to bet how Robert reacted?” Mal slyly suggested.
“30 on no reaction!” Punch up said.
“Good luck, team.” The dispatcher snickered.