Work Text:
Z-Team was chatting idly. The office was in a pretty positive mood this morning. Hell even Chase was seemingly in a good mood.
“The fuck you fuckers lookin’ at?” Chase shot them a glare.
“Einstein looking motherfucker…” Invisigal mumbled as they turned back to their chatter.
“Heard that.” Chase grumbled.
All in all? Chill morning.
Sonar was busy trying to convince them on this new upstart company's stock, meanwhile the few of them that were paying him any mind had already opted out of losing all their money in a bad deal. Flambae and Prism were gossiping- not quietly, and honestly Invisigal was enjoying the eavesdropping. Punch Up and Coupe were chatting about something softly, with Punch Up waving Sonar off.
Then in walks Blonde Blazer. She radiates confidence, a warm smile projecting her calm and friendly demeanor. As far as Robert was concerned, she was the kind of woman you took out to nice restaurants.
Blazer brightens as she walks over, “Good morning.”
Sure, he may be getting more sleep these days but he's not quite at ‘smiling on a Monday’ levels of friendly. Still for Blazer, he musters up a slight smirk.
“Morning, to what do I owe the pleasure?” His voice is dry and deep.
Blazer's smile softens, “I have a favor I need to ask?”
Robert raises an eyebrow, “And that would be..?”
“Could you train the new hire? You did so well with the Z-Team I thought…” Blazer trails off.
“That I could pull off another miracle?” He says dryly.
He's not exactly thrilled with the idea. Z-Team keeps him very busy and his hands full. Another new member to worry about, teach, mentor, and integrate with the team sounds like a terrible idea. However while he may have some bubbling attraction for her, Blonde Blazer is still his boss. She's asking him to take this on because he's proven to be competent.
Robert sighs, “Yeah, I can train them.”
Blazer lights up, “Perfect! Thank you, I'll handle the paperwork but don't be surprised if your new trainee stops by. I'll say something to them in advance.”
He nods and off Blazer goes.
Chase snorts from the other side of his desk, “You poor bastard! Can't catch a break can ya’?”
“I'm trying to keep an open mind.” He offers instead of telling Chase to shove it.
So they get to work. Z-Team slowly heads out for patrol, and he dispatches them as needed throughout the city. Honestly he forgets about his new trainee. Instead he debates fighting the vending machine for a twinkie or just having a cup of shitty office coffee for lunch. Either way, he's not wasting time thinking about it.
Until he gets reminded.
“Hi. Robert, right?” A light voice says from next to him.
He doesn't startle though if he did he would've. He pulls his headset down, making sure to hit the mute, “Uh, yes.”
She's pretty. Not in the same way as Blazer, more subdued and soft. Her posture is nervous, her face is urging brave but he can easily see that she's about as jittery as Waterboy is underneath the brace face. Still, she sticks her hand out to him.
“It's good to meet you, I- er wait that sounds weird, uh I'm your new trainee?”
She fumbles it but just like with Waterboy he stays patient, “Same, it'll be good to have you on the team.”
She nods, “Happy to be here. Hopefully I can do as good of a job as you do. Blonde Blazer really talked you up.”
At that he raises an eyebrow. While it's not exactly a secret anymore that he was, is, Mechaman its not really common knowledge. The idea that Blazer told this newbie something like his identity is a little…
Seeing his silence, she took it as a sign to continue, “I mean, the work you did with the Z-Team is really impressive and I hope to be able to do the same, that's all.”
“Okay I'm lost, run this by me again?”
She looked hesitant, “Did Blazer not tell you? I'm your new trainee?”
Robert nodded, “Yeah, got that part.”
“Okay… uh, you're training me to be a dispatcher?” She finished.
Oh. Okay. That changed things.
Once again, he forgot to respond to his new trainee.
“I'll, uh, see you tomorrow? It's my first proper day.”
He nodded, “Yeah, looking forward to it.”
She smiled and left his desk. He leaned back in his office chair and groaned.
“Fuck me.”
“Fuck no!” Chase crowed from above him.
Robert rolled his eyes, “You heard didn't you?”
Chase grinned, “Yep. She seems nice.”
“They're gonna eat her alive.” He complained.
“She could surprise you.” Chase offered.
Robert shot him a skeptical look.
Chase huffed, “Okay sure she's probably gonna be some sort of pansy and will end up quitting on the first day but hey, then your problem is solved!”
Despite that, he had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't going to be a quitter. Something about that brave face of hers had him doubting. It held a determination in it that one needed to work effectively in their profession. If she could hold onto that then she'd do just fine. Probably. He just hoped Visi didn't go and spy on her like she did with him…