Chapter Text
Mandy's heads were in her hands as the gray-haired bookkeeper in thick spectacles shuffled her way out of her office.
Her brows were deeply furrowed as she stared down at the financial report on her desk, her blue eyes scanning the dizzying array of numbers displayed before her, searching almost desperately for an unaccounted decimal or a misplaced zero. A lock of brunette hair fell out of her neatly tied-up bun, framing the distraught look on her face.
Standing next to her desk his hands on his hips, clad in a blue-and-yellow suit and rocking blonde dreads, Chase cleared his throat to bring her attention back.
"So, I'm guessing the look of horror and despair means the numbers are adding up?"
Mandy turned over the documents aimlessly, looking for answers on the back that weren't there. It was pointless. The figures made sense. The accountant hadn't made a mistake anywhere. And there wasn't any way around the reality that was quickly folding in on her.
SDN Torrance was facing bankruptcy.
It had all happened so quickly. Torrance, as the newest branch, was always the lowest performer in SDN's network; but it was still profitable despite that. For years, Mandy ran a tight ship, being frugal in places where it mattered, launching effective campaigns to boost the branch's subscription base – building her branch up from the ground up. The Phoenix Program in their early days might have been bad for business, considering the sharp decrease in subscribers after Z-team had started going out in the streets (and destroying them), but she had always argued avidly and successfully that the program was a worthwhile long-term investment.
But her sudden commitment into the rebuilding of the Mecha Man suit, along with all the associated repairs to the office building after the Red Ring attack, had left the company in the red. It drained all the finances that her team had stockpiled, and now those glaring red figures were laid bare faced before her very eyes.
"Oh my god. The board’s gonna kill me," Mandy moaned despondently.
How many hopes and dreams had been resting on her shoulder when the board had suddenly promoted her to branch manager at such a young age? How many hours had she spent practicing her sales pitch to convince the higher ups that her Phoenix Program and Mecha Man’s suit repairs were, in fact, good PR for the company? How many favors had she pulled with her connections at the DTLA branch to make sure things went her way? And now, the only thing she had to show for her efforts was a long string of red numbers.
It was all blowing up in her face. What will become of Mecha Man's suit? What about the Z-team's future? Will the entire branch be dissolved because of her blunder?
Chase's grumbling interrupted her thoughts. "I guess I should start looking for another job then, huh? Because technically I'm not at retirement age yet."
An exasperated sigh escaped her mouth. "Chase, this is serious."
"Yeah, I could tell."
His blonde mustache twitched as he pursed his lips, leaning over Mandy’s shoulder so he could stare down at the red numbers alongside her. "Goddamn. That's a lot of fucking zeros."
"Don't you have work to do?"
"What, me? You're talking to the guy that can run out to a call and get it taken care of before Robert even has a chance to call it out on his headset. And besides, I'm on my break."
"And you decided to spend that break by listening in to our financial report?"
"Hold on now, I wasn't here just to be annoying and spy on you. My name’s not Invisigal. I'm here to offer suggestions."
Mandy raised her brow. "You have an idea on how we're gonna claw out of this financial hole?"
"I'm just saying, when I was with the Brave Brigade we didn't just rely on Robbie to pay all the bills. All of us had to do chip in with a little bit of fundraising. What we need… is a way to drum up some cash from the public."
Mandy replied with a confused look. "And how would we do that?"
There was a blip from the corner of her office. The both of them turned their heads to the sound, only to see Invisigal standing there with her hips bucked to the side.
"We could always sell merch," she offered, casually playing with her fingernails.
Mandy sighed again. "Okay, does anyone in this office actually do work around here?"
"I'm on break too."
"Which you're now using to spy on us."
The ill-tempered woman gave her a scowl. "Hey, it's not like I do this all the time. Fuck you, by the way," she directed at Chase, giving him the finger.
"Right back at you, sister," he shot back.
"Just hear me out. Lots of heroes make a ton of cash selling their merch. I'm surprised SDN hasn't milked this cash cow dry, honestly.”
Visi crossed her arms, moving across the room so she could rest her hips on the edge of Mandy’s oak desk. “Like seriously, think of all the money you spent on that Mecha Man shit that you have in your apartment, and then imagine how much we- uh, how much SDN could make on thousands of people just like you."
Mandy’s heart skipped a beat. "W-What? How did you know- "
"Anyways, I'm just throwing out ideas. Merchandise is a no-brainer. 'Specially now since we've got LA's famous Mecha Man on SDN's payroll.”
Mandy waved her off. “Even then, it’s going to take a while to get all that stuff set up. We’d need to set up a contract with a manufacturer, develop a product line – and we don’t even have any ideas on what we’re going to sell yet.”
A smirk grew out of the corner of Visi’s mouth. “Well as a matter of fact, I've actually been working with Royd on a poster design for Mecha Boy himself. Check this shit out."
She pulled out her phone and expanded an image, then handed it to Mandy. Her smirk grew wider the moment Mandy looked at it and turned beet red.
"C-Courtney, this is-!"
"A masterpiece?"
"A blatant HR violation!"
"No need to thank me. Once we get the printers up and running again I'll give you a poster for free so you can add it to your little collection. But I do expect royalties from every sale-"
"Courtney, we're not selling this at SDN!"
Chase's confused eyes darted between the two women, clearly out of the loop. "I, uh... am I allowed to see what's on that phone?"
"No!" Mandy practically shouted.
Chase shrunk back, and immediately she regretted the outburst. Apparently his newfound powers with the amulet couldn’t stop him from being intimidated by an angry Mandy.
"No, I mean..." Mandy sighed. "Okay, listen. Thank you for the advice, both of you. I think I have some ideas to explore now. But if we're going to plan a fundraiser, we’ll need to do this right. I'll come up with something and... see if we can come up with a solution soon. For now you guys are dismissed."
"Whatever you say, boss."
"Fuckin' break's almost over anyways."
Mandy handed Visi back her phone and watched the two of them shuffle through her office door, biting her lip as a thought danced in her mind.
"Courtney?" she called out as the violet-haired woman had her hand on the door. She looked back at her with sly eyes. Mandy waited until Chase was out the door.
"...Could you, um... send me that picture when you get the chance..." she trailed off, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks again.
A wicked grin spread across Visi’s face. "God, you're desperate."
Robert watched from the corner of the conference room as the Z-team engaged in idle conversation, absentmindedly scratching Beef's head.
His entire team had been gathered together fifteen minutes ago for an emergency meeting Mandy had planned, but ever since they had been unceremoniously shoved into the room they were left in the dark of what the meeting was supposed to entail. Normally Robert would be privy to Mandy's plans, but this time he had no idea as well.
His eyes glanced over the room. Punch Up and Malevola were having an impromptu arm-wrestling contest, with Coupe playing judge; Flambae was looking over Prism's shoulder as she checked her phone; Phenomaman was in the middle of showing off his card deck to Golem; Sonar had his arm wrapped around Waterboy’s lanky shoulders, detailing an elaborate money laundering scheme that Waterboy looked uncomfortable just listening to. Then he spotted Invisigal in the corner by herself with a rolled-up poster in her hands, carrying a smug look on her face as she propped up her legs on the table.
Robert made his way over to her, the chihuahua in his arms cocking his head back and forth to take in the sights and sounds of the commotion around him.
"I'm assuming by that look on your face that you know something I don't?" he asked.
Visi simply rolled her eyes. "Don't you worry your pretty little head, Bobby. You're gonna love this."
At this moment the conference doors swung open and Mandy stepped inside, her work heels shuffling on the carpet. A few steps back, Chase – or rather, Track Blazer – stepped in behind her, the red amulet on his suit glistening from the ceiling lights.
“Hey team,” Mandy greeted in her usual cheery tone. “Sorry I’m a little late, so I’ll just get right to the point.”
“Oh, bother,” Malevola muttered sardonically under her breath. “I was actually looking forward to this morning’s little hugbox session.”
Mandy chose to ignore that comment. “As some of you might have heard: after the Red Ring attack on the office, our branch is in a little bit of a financial pickle.”
“Wait. We’re in a financial pickle?” Golem asked. “How come no one told me?”
“It was in the group chat,” Prism perked up. “I sent it to everyone last night.”
A phone emerged from the muddy mass that was Golem’s body, and he pulled it out to check it.
“Ohhh. I see it now.”
The hulking construct leaned over towards the equally tall Phenomaman, whispering in his ear. “What does financial pickle mean?”
“It means our money is being turned into pickles,” Phenomaman whispered back confidently, scratching his chin.
“It means we don’t have any more money,” Mandy clarified, bringing the conversation back to her. “And if we don’t do something about it soon, the Torrance branch might not exist for much longer.”
“’Fuck’s that got to do with us?” Punch Up interrupted, twirling his handlebar mustache.
“No money means no pay,” Coupe explained.
Punch Up stared blankly at the wall for a moment as the gears in his head grinded out the details.
“Oh, shite,” was his reply.
Across the room, Sonar straightened his tie. “I hear you, boss. Bankruptcy is something no one wants to deal with. But you’ve come to the right guy. Let me just point you to this financial resource that I’ve personally been working on-”
“Sonar, you’re not allowed to advertise your cryptocurrency scam,” Robert said. Mandy met his eyes and mouthed a silent “thank you”.
Sonar slumped over in his seat. “I spent all night making pamphlets…” he said dejectedly as Malevola rubbed his back.
“Now, I know this sounds like scary news. Which it is,” Mandy continued. “But thankfully, I’ve come up with a perfect solution on how we can raise money and avoid insolvency.”
Visi suddenly sat upright in her seat, a winning grin on her face. Robert eyed the rolled-up poster in her hands suspiciously.
“Man, it’s hard work carrying this branch so much,” she bragged to her dispatcher, rolling her shoulders emphatically. “But someone’s gotta get it done.”
Robert rolled his eyes, sighing. “Okay. Does anyone want to tell me what’s going on?”
Visi replied. “We’re gonna sell my pos-”
“We’re going door-to-door selling cookies!”
Mandy beamed as she made the announcement in front of the former supervillains in front of her. Visi’s grin made a disappearing act reminiscent of her powers.
Right on cue, the conference doors swung open and in came Galen pushing an improvised janitor’s cart with a blanket covering the top.
Stopping at the head of the conference table, Mandy gestured emphatically at the cart and Galen pulled the cover away, revealing boxes and boxes of cookies of varying designs and colors, neatly arranged and stacked on top of each other.
“What?” Chase asked, bewildered.
“What.” Robert sighed.
“WHAT?!” Visi shrieked.
I know this isn’t exactly conventional, or what any of you guys are trained for,” Mandy explained as Galen began passing around sample boxes. “But our options are limited when we’re on such short notice. And speaking as someone with firsthand experience selling cookies as a former Girl Scout-”
“Figures.”
“So predictable.”
“-As a former Girl Scout member,” Mandy continued, “I know all the ins-and-outs of selling door-to-door. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask!”
“Uh, yeah,” Invisigal raised her hand indignantly. “What the fuck is this?!”
“Ooh, check this shit out!” Flambae held out a red-and-orange colored box. “Flambae’s Firecrackers!”
The box he was holding depicted a picture of his face taking a bite out of a sugar cookie with cinnamon swirls patterns in the shape of a fireball. Looking around the room, Robert discovered that all the different box designs featured a Z-team member.
“I spent all week working on these designs in collaboration with a local manufacturer,” Mandy said. “Since the Z-team exploded in popularity after the Red Ring incident, I figured we might as well use your likenesses to help advertise!”
As they clamored over the cookies, a purple-colored box reached Visi’s hands. It showed her likeness as she held up a cookie in one hand and a thumbs up in the other. She looked down at it with a twitch in her eye.
Chase cackled in the corner after seeing her reaction. “Good luck selling that, Visi! Remember to smile when you knock on doors!”
“Chase, you’re helping out too,” Mandy said.
The man’s smile dropped so quickly that Robert suspected he might have been using his speedster powers.
“Huh?”
“Everybody in this room needs to contribute if we’re going to have a chance of reaching our fundraiser. That’s why I’m helping out too.”
“How many cookies are we supposed to sell?” Robert asked, ignoring his friend’s slack jaw.
“I’ve done the math last night, and if I remember correctly… We’ll need to sell exactly 4,512 boxes to even out our finances,” Mandy explained.
“Oh,” Robert sighed in relief. “That’s a little high, but not totally undoable if we all-”
“Each. We each need to sell 4,512 boxes. Every day. For the whole month.”
“…Oh.”
“Oh hey, Mandy,” Chase perked up. “Totally forgot to tell you – DTLA actually wants me to come in today for some, uh, superhero work. Sounded very important and shit. I’m afraid I can’t join you guys in your little fundraiser.”
Mandy furrowed her brow. “Hm? How come this is the first time I’ve heard of this?”
“The announcement came in an email just this morning. They must have forgotten to CC you or something.”
“Well… I guess it wouldn’t be too bad if we didn’t have you for a day…”
“Actually I’m supposed to transfer myself there for the whole month. You know how it is with corporate.”
“What? Well we can’t have you gone for that long-”
“Afraid my hands are tied. So sorry, would have loved to help out but I can’t. Look at the time, I’m gonna be late – see you in a month!”
There was a streak of rainbow light, and when Robert blinked his eyes open Chase was gone and the conference door was swinging on its hinges.
…
…
“Full of fucking shit,” Visi spat, her eyes pointing at the door like daggers.
Robert saw Golem take a cookie out of an opened box and pop it into his wide maw. “Yo Visi, these Mudslide Munchies are actually pretty dope. Wanna try some?”
He shook the box of cookies in her face. Robert swore he saw steam coming out of her ears.