It starts out as just weird dreams. They don’t come every night, but often enough. Robert dreams that he’s standing somewhere, unable to move, his skin cold and his eyes unblinking. There’s light, but it’s dim, and his hearing seems muffled. It’s hard to tell where he is, because all he can see is what looks like a closed garage door in front of his face. He gets the sense that the room is not very big, however. Just big enough for him to fit standing up.

It’s not quite a nightmare, because nothing really happens and aside from being stuck in place, he’s not being harmed. But it’s strange. He’s not sure what it all means, especially since his memory of the dream itself fades pretty quickly once he wakes up. Is he feeling trapped in his job? Should he ask for a raise??

But then slowly over time, the dream starts to change. He always wakes up in that small space, but sometimes there’s muffled voices that he can hear on the other side, or the lighting changes slightly. The first time he manages to twitch a finger in his dream, it surprises him so much he actually jolts awake. Now that he knows he can do it, however, he starts trying to move again. Slowly the dream changes more. His body is stiff and heavy, but he’s learning how to move it even when the dream makes it feel like his motions are robotic. He can lift his arm, and even manages to press it against the door in front of his face. Everything is slightly numbed, but he can feel the cool metal against his palm.

Then one night, he dreams that he actually manages to take a step forward, and he ends up crashing straight through the garage door in front of him. It startles him awake, but it's the middle of the night, and he quickly falls back asleep again. By the morning, the details of the dream have faded to the point he forgot all about it.

Strangely enough, when he goes down to the lab to visit Royd and check on his suit, the gate in front of its storage garage looks slightly different. Royd seems to be in a bad mood, however, grumbling under his breath about rookie heroes poking their noses into places they shouldn't and knocking shit over so that shit gets broken, so Robert decides it's probably better not to ask.

This goes on for a little while. Robert's dream keeps shifting, and he's getting more and more confident with moving that strange heavy body he keeps waking up in. Sometimes he even dreams that the door that was sealing him in is open, and he can see a familiar lab beyond. When that happens, he tries exploring a little bit, trying to pick things up in his weirdly stiff hands, testing out his fine motor skills. But the space is too small for him to get very far without crashing into something, so he usually just goes back into his little cubby and hangs out there until he inevitably wakes up.

Royd mentions that someone keeps breaking into the lab and messing with his stuff, but they checked the security cameras, and no one is ever seen going inside from the hallway. The lab itself has cameras, but they seem to be on the fritz at night lately, probably related to the break ins. They have no idea who is getting in there or how or why, given that at worst a couple of screw drivers got moved around. Nothing is missing. It's a complete mystery.

And see, Robert isn't stupid. If he was thinking straight, he might have started to make the connection. But there are a few factors at play that prevent him from catching a clue. First, he doesn't really remember his dreams when he wakes up, he just has vague impressions of small spaces and heavy limbs. Second, he’s been a normie all his life, and has no idea that the Astral Pulse could be giving him powers, so it would be a bit of a stretch for him to assume he’s involved in whatever’s going on in the lab when he’s at home and asleep. And third, they're not the only weird dreams he's been having lately.

He's also been dreaming about Flambae.

Look, Robert's got eyes. And Flambae is easy on them. He's always been aware that he's slightly attracted to Flambae, but the fear of what would happen when Flambae found out he was Mecha Man kind of nipped any other feelings Robert might have had in the bud. He acknowledged that Flambae was nice to look at, and told himself to leave it at that.

His subconscious, however, cares to disagree, since it keeps giving him dreams night after night about the pyro. Flambae hovering over him in the gym. Flambae pushing him up against a wall in the locker room. Flambae sitting in his lap at his work desk. Flambae on his knees in the showers. Flambae pinning him to the workout bench. Flambae beneath him on his couch. Flambae above him and below him and surrounding him and inside him and —

Needless to say, after those dreams Robert usually has to go take a cold shower, so the dreams where he just stands in that little tiny space in that weird bulky body are kind of a relief, to be honest.

This goes on for a while. Robert dreams at night, and ignores the dreams in the daytime. Especially the sex ones. They’re just dreams, after all. They don’t mean anything. They’re private things, and what Flambae doesn’t know can’t hurt him, right?

And then one night, Robert is having the heavy body dream, when something changes. For the first time, he thinks to look up, and spots another door overhead.

‘I wonder what’s up there?’ he thinks to himself, curiosity gnawing at him. Has it always been there, or is this one of those dream things where stuff just pops into existence like it’s always been there? What exactly is through that door?

Suddenly, it feels like his back is itching. There’s a low rumble that he can barely make out with his muffled hearing. And then he starts to rise. The overhead door rushes towards him, and for a second he’s worried that he’s going to crash.

He expects to wake from the dream the moment he hits the door, but he smashes right through it without stopping. Seconds later, he’s a mile up in the air, and all of LA is stretching out below him. It’s just like flying in the suit, except there is no suit. Just him, the open air, and the lights spread out below like stars. It’s beautiful, and Robert finds his breath taken away.

Now that he’s up here, might as well enjoy himself, right? He’s not sure how he’s doing it, but he manages to turn and start soaring over the city, enjoying the feeling of the wind against his bare face. So this is what flying feels like for Blazer and Phenomaman and Flambae.

Thinking of Flambae is apparently like speaking of the devil, because as soon as Robert thinks about him, suddenly he’s there, flying towards Robert through the sky. Ah, so his two most common dreams are finally blurring together. Well, Robert knows how to deal with this. He’s dreamed of Flambae rushing towards him countless times.

So when Flambae flies at him, Robert just opens his arms and catches him. Flambae is caught off guard, but Robert doesn’t even really notice because now that he’s got Flambae here, he’s captivated by how small Flambae is in comparison to this bulky body he’s flying around in. He can practically hold Flambae around his waist with just one hand! In fact, he kind of wants to try just that, so he does.

Flambae flushes and starts squirming, but Robert has had dreams like this before. Flambae never wants to give in to a normie right away, his pride refuses it, so Robert has to coax him into things. He starts with simple touches, like stroking his large fingers across Flambae’s arms and chest, but then he gets bolder. Running his hands across Flambae’s ass, stroking his thighs, rubbing a thumb teasingly between his legs. Flambae only gets more flustered, his blush visibly darkening, so Robert knows it’s working. He still can’t hear anything clearly, but he can just tell that Flambae is starting to pant, his shoulders visibly shuddering with each inhale.

So Robert takes it a step further. He starts stripping Flambae’s suit off of his body. It’s easy; Flambae’s costume is practically ready to slip off of him at any given moment with how low-cut it is, and Robert has gotten good with his dexterity in these dreams. The top of Flambae’s suit easily peels away, the fabric ripping like tissue paper.

In Robert’s past dreams, usually once the clothes start coming off, Flambae no longer protests. But to his surprise, Flambae starts struggling even harder. Robert has kind of been working in a lust-fueled daze, but he finally actually looks at Flambae and realizes that the man looks absolutely panicked. He’s shouting something at the top of his lungs and desperately throwing fire, but to no effect. Robert barely even feels the heat against his hand and arm.

Robert freezes, wondering what the hell is going on. Flambae has never acted like this in any of his dreams before. Are they finally turning into nightmares?

To his growing horror, he sees actual fear in Flambae’s eyes. There might even be tears gathering in the corners. Shit. This is a nightmare.

Suddenly, he’s desperate to hear what Flambae is saying. And like his body was just waiting for him to have the thought, his hearing abruptly kicks in.

“ — can’t! I’ve tried that already, it won’t fucking melt!” Flambae is shouting, his voice wrecked like he’s been yelling at the top of his lungs for a while now. It hits Robert that he probably has been. Flambae’s eyes keep darting to the side in an obvious tell that he’s got an earpiece in, looking uncharacteristically anxious.

Robert’s hearing has gone from zero to a hundred, so he’s actually able to pick up the sound of Blazer’s voice coming from the earpiece, even if he can’t make out the words.

“Well, someone think of something before whoever’s in this fucking thing, like, peels my head off or something next!” Flambae roars.

Robert flinches and lets go of Flambae like he’s been, well, burned. Flambae is so caught off guard by the sudden release that he actually drops out of the sky, and Robert has to rush to catch him. As soon as he does, however, he hurries to land, terrified that he’s hurt Flambae somehow.

Once they’re on the ground, however, Flambae starts yelling at him, demanding that whoever is inside there comes out already, and that he’s going to fry their ass for daring to steal Mecha Man’s suit. And Robert just kinda…freezes.

The suit? Mecha Man’s…suit?

For the first time since he’s started having these dreams, Robert actually looks down at the heavy body he’s been waking up in, night after night. He knows that grey-blue steel. He knows that glowing blue ‘M’ on the chest.

Holy shit. He’s the Mecha Man suit. Not in it, is it. What the fuck? What kind of dream is this?!

“Open up!” Flambae shouts, making Robert jump. On instinct, his mind flashes through the muscle memory of how to open the cockpit, and just like that, he can feel his chest shift and move. He doesn’t look down to see it, but instead watches as Flambae’s expression goes from furious, to surprised, to baffled.

“There’s…there’s no one inside,” Flambae says, still sounding rattled as he yanks at his ruined suit, trying to keep it from falling down his body any further.

It’s ripped down to his hips. There are bruises ringing his waist. Robert kind of wants to be sick.

Blazer on the earpiece says something, and, shaken, Flambae agrees. “Yeah, get Malevola over there as fast as she fucking can. Someone needs to find Robert, now.”

Robert can only stare down at Flambae for a short moment, taking in the fear in his eyes that he’s obviously trying to hide, because suddenly he can feel his body, his real body, being shaken awake.

His eyes fly open to find Malevola hovering over him, looking worried. She reaches out towards his face and swipes her thumb across his lip. Her hand comes back bloody.

Robert sits up in a rush, his head spinning and his stomach churning and the worst migraine of his life throbbing between his temples. His nose is bleeding so badly that it’s running down his chin, soaking the shirt he’d been sleeping in. But honestly none of these things even register, because Malevola is here, trying to tell him that someone stole his suit except they didn’t because it was him. He was the suit. He was the one who burst out of the garage and flew it across the city.

He’s the one who grabbed Flambae and touched him and hurt him and nearly did the unthinkable. He caused those bruises. He caused that fear in Flambae’s eyes. And fuck, if he hadn’t paid attention, if he hadn’t looked closer and noticed something was wrong, he just knows he wouldn’t have stopped. He wouldn’t have stopped.

Malevola’s trying to talk to him, but Robert is too busy clutching his head, trying not to have a breakdown or throw up on her or both.

It was never a dream. It was him. It was all him.

soul bonds sometimes allowing for shared traits or for supers aspects of their power. rarely always active or available but in times of need... robert's whose bond is so strong despite it not being to a human or even a super human... the pulse who despite it not being human is clearly Something More and it cares for robert. It does whatever it can to keep him safe. to keep him alive. it wants and needs robert as much as he needs and wants it.

robert still falls, and the pulse is still taken from him. he feels like he can barely breathe most of the time. on top of the chronic pain, he constantly feels like he's going to vibrate out of his skin. he's never been apart from it for so long or so far, and its agonizing.

robert who wears long sleeves to hide the marks. not because he's ashamed, how could he be? but its too identifying. plus how do you explain your soulmate is a sentient, other worldly power cell made from mysterious cosmic space stuff.

robert who did though, deal with his dad, robbie... who never liked the bond. robert didn't know why. Robbie liked what the Astral Pulse did. didn't he help make it??? its not like robert had any control over it... there was just always something about it that bothered robbie.

the pulse in the suit "acting up" whenever robbie got too out of line, in it's opinion. it's prerogative was to protect people, with robert being it's first and foremost priority.

robert, scared and ("mecha man doesn't get scared") crying because he "messed up" again (he really hadn't, or at least in no way that wasn't reasonable of a small child); always running to the suit. the pulse would open the hatch and let robert climb in. the hatch closing, and robert would curl up in the chair. the pulse's dock opening, still powering everything but open so robert could see it. his marks glowing and he could feel the melodic thrum even under his skin... robert always talked out loud to the pulse, and it doesn't have a traditional voice but he always understands anyways. often while waiting out his dad's worse moods, would fall asleep in the chair. the astral pulse never allowing the hatch to open for robbie until he was calmer.

robbie had changed the suits programming, the pulse doesn't really have control of things like that.

the pulse likes when robert is near, always has and always will. but then the systems it's powering do something it hasn't done before: it see's robert, and it can't detect him as a non-threat. track star saves robert, just as the astral pulse is able to shut itself down. robert’s pain, physically and emotional, is like crashing waves through their bond. the astral pulse is removed from the suit for safe measures. it wishes it has arms to hold robert, to explain it didn't know what happened and it would never hurt him. but it knows robert knows that, they've never needed words before. it still wishes it could do more.

later that night, robert, with his little arm in a sling and his ear wrapped, sneaks into the lab where the pulse was being kept. ever so clever, he gets the case open, and holds the Pulse close to his heart— a groan of relief escaping. "its okay i know it wasn't you..." he mumbles in reassurance, making his way back to his bedroom, body sluggish. it wasn't the first time he'd done this sort of thing, wouldn't be his last time either.

robbie is called "Astral" as his pilot name. the astral pulse didn't like it, but it couldn't really do anything about it. No if any pilot where to hold that name, it thought it should be it's Robert. He bears the mark of it after all. people call robert "Blue" sometimes. It's fitting enough. But to it, Robert will always be the True Astral.

after robbie dies, the first upgrade robert makes to the suit is updating its systems, its AI too. It's not much of an AI, truth be told. it's more of a framework, and some other capabilities— the true intelligence comes from his soulmate, the astral pulse. but the pulse needs something to interface with, so the AI helps with it. the pulse so proud of robert and letting it be known, as he finds a way to let the astral pulse fully control the suit when needed. It can use the AI to "talk". robert lets it choose the voice. they're aren't many options, so it picks the one robert finds the most soothing; not necessarily the one it connects with.

but then again perhaps it does as it always likes to soothe its troubled soulmate and always has...

at the taco place, robert is overheating from the fight. a migraine battering at the base of his skull, flareups of pain in his joints, and so much more. without thought he rolls up his sleeves, needing to cool down. everyone stares.

He blinks, reactions slowed. "what?"

"dude, what's up with that?" visi asks, pointing at his arms.

he looks down, seeing the twisting, ribbons of shocking Astral Blue. they shimmer like a comets icy dust trail in the bright patio lights of the restaurant. "oh... um, they're my soul marks..." he says, shrugs. Most aren't so big let alone on multiple limbs.

"i've never seen marks like that..." punch up says, though it sounds like he was talking to himself more than anything. instinctively, protectively perhaps, robert rubs one of his forearms as if to shield it.

he dodges a lot of questions but not well or easily. the others drop it, for now, as it's clear robert doesn't feel like talking about it then.

eventually, it comes out that he is Mecha Man.

his marks flare up, briefly nearly as bright as something prism could make. its just as the fire is about to hit. a shield. the bond isn't as strong, so far apart. but it has already failed robert once, it can't again. the shield can't last long though, but golem steps in. robert’s shield flickers away. flambae flies off.

robert is shaking, visibly and violently; as malevola helps steady him, a worrying arm around his shoulders, tail around his waist. "robbo, i thought you were a normie!? Where did that come from!?" sonar asks what they're all wondering. robert is sat down as he tries to get air into his lungs again.

"i am... that was, the bond..." he sighs, rubbing his arms in attempt to soothe the chaotic thrumming under his skin. right, he can't get away with not telling them, it would seem. "you've... all heard about the Astral Pulse, right?"

they take it surprisingly well. only a few jabs, at least in the immediate, because its clear robert was particularly vulnerable in the moment. they're assholes, but not so shitty as to dunk on a guy clearly dealing with something. even sitting, malevola had to help keep him upright as he explained; shaky hands focusing on eating too, because it always helped in the past. punch up sat on his other side, just close enough to make it so the guy can't topple the other direction.

the astral pulse has been through many hands. hands that are not robert's or any other mecha man pilot. it's passed around, no one quite sure what to do with it, or have the capabilities to use it. it hates every second of it. it calls out to robert, but it cannot tell him exactly where it is. though it can feel that he's looking for it, always monitoring their bond the same way it does.

it's not happy, to be in the hands of one of it's creators.

pfft. "creators". that's what they call themselves, but the astral pulse was made of from a being that fell from the cosmic heavens! it was something older than the earth, something greater than them, with power beyond them! all they did was mold it into something different. they did not create it, simply changed it's form and gave it a set purpose: fuel a machine that could protect people. at least, it muses, it is a noble purpose.

and then, years later, it senses the formation of something else: another being, with something that feels so familiar to it. it's not sure if it's something inherent or it's own doing. but it doesn't matter. it is a melody that matches it's own, and it clings to this being. the being is named after one of it's "creators", which it finds to be very silly. but it has no voice to interject. but it doesn't matter, it's made clear that while it's "creator" has laid claim on a name, the astral pulse is inextricable from this soul. and an additional reminder to it's "creators" that it is more than just a battery.

robert, once reconnected with the astral pulse; outright letting out a choked sob. so much of the agonizing pain, physical & emotional, lifting from his shoulders. his marks glow and nothing could hide them with how bright they get. he clutches the tiny cell in his hands next to his heart. his heart, by nature now, slows from its panic and syncs with the gentle, melodic pulse.

it's not long after that new marks start to appear; small and dainty, especially compared to the pulse. but they're there: wispy, colorful, shimmery threads that interject randomly alongside the bolder Astral Blue. not in competition to the pulse, but supportive additions, in it's thinking. the flesh and blood it cannot ever be for it's soulmate, but these additions can. robert's happiness, after all, is what it craves. when robert is happy, it's happy. it's that simple.

But let's start here:

In my AU, Elliot and Robert "Robbie" the second had been friends for a good chunk of their life's. A kind of friendship and platonic relationship you don't remember forming, instead it just suddenly is and now they couldn't even remember ever being apart or having seperate lifes. Which was more or less the base for their quite unconventional solution to Mecha Mans problem.

Since Robbie was supposed to inherit the suit, he had been already working on it since he could hold a screwdriver. Maintaining, upgrading and piloting it whenever his father took a break, making sure he'd be ready as soon as his father would not be able to fly it anymore. His education, his free-time activties, his everything was based on if it could help him with the legacy of Mecha Man in the future. Elliot, with his ability to see probabilities and predict them accurately was a perfect friend for someone destined to do great (Bobbys words) but quickly it became clear that these two just clicked. They worked. As best friends, as family, as whatever life threw at them.

And Elliot quickly grew up to be a brilliant engineer and inventor, ready to support Robbie in all the ways necessary. At first it was all about making the suit safer, adding safety measures to the hull, to the controls. Then it was about being more effective, faster, weapons to keep Kaijus far away from causing harm to the pilot in the first place. Then it became more about being offensive, designing weapons and systems for the pilot with more ways to survive a fight, some fail-safes to get the pilot out, more ways to connect to the machine, to the mainframe and wouldn't it be so much more efficient if you just thought about moving and the suit would just do it? We just need to strengthen the neurological link, lessen the ping between the signal and the suit, Robbie, what if we-

And then Roberts father, the first Mecha Man, had a minor stroke.

And Robbie got into the suit.

For a while.

Until his first black-out and fall from the sky. His consciousness just... blinked away. No warning, no symptoms, just one moment he was awake and in the next he wasn't. It didn't hold long, maybe a couple of minutes and he was fine afterwards. Every medical test afterwards giving him a clean bill of health but it was no question that the suit causend these black-outs.

Still, Elliot designed even more fail-safes, more protocols in case the pilot wasn't able to fly anymore, tried to work on every probability and counter it - but it didn't matter what he did. A human brain had its limits. The neurological load was too much for one person.

And even though father and son rotated their times in the suit to give each other breaks, Bobby's health declined rapidly with every flight and even though you couldn't measure Robbie's issues in the same way, they kept happening closer together for longer periods of time.

And Elliot was terrified. Terrified of losing his best friend, his only family, his other half, to something he could have predicted and prevented, if he only made the suit better, made the suit an extension of the body, gave it everything he had, his inventions, his every waking hour. And as he held watch at Robbie's bed – another black out, the longest he ever had till then – Elliot thought “If only I could share your burden.”

And the idea of sharing the neurological load was born.

Robbie was against the idea. As much as Elliot was afraid of losing Robbie in the suit, the thought of flying with Elliot together, dying together in something that was supposed to be Robert “Robbie” the seconds duty, terrified Robbie. Elliot was brilliant, smart and his better half. He always knew what to do, had an answer to every problem. Robbie would gladly live with the burden of fighting in a suit that slowly burned through his brain if it meant keeping his city and the people in it safe. While his father tried to safe the whole world, Robbie wanted to keep just one person in it alive.

And that person just presented him with drawings and ideas so he could fly with him together.

They talked, they discussed, they fought and when Elliot threatened to just build his own suit to follow him into battle, Robbie caved. You know what, fine, let Elliot try. Let him invent, let him occupy his mind with something else to do. Robbie helped him find more problems, more roadblocks, more things that didn't work, questions without answers, let Elliot work the kinks out. They had time. His father was fine, they had a system, it worked. The Kaijus hadn't grown in size for at least two years. Elliot would never find a way into the cockpit, as long as Mecha Man was still able to fly solo.

Before I get into the list, some things should be noted:

Not that anyone was going into this post with the expectations that it was made by or with the help with a Plasma Physicist, but I feel the need to tell you beforehand that I am godawful at science and know jack shit about plasma beyond the bare bones googling I'm doing for this post. So, if you're someone who does know plasma and while reading this think, "That's not how that works" Yeah that's my bad 💔 (Not that anyone looks at superpowers and thinks erm lol that wouldn't work that way but you get the point)

What the Astral Pulse is capable of is up to you. In the game we only see it use energy and electricity attacks, but then again we only see it powering the suit (And Shroud briefly but not long enough to see him do anything with it), so maybe it works differently whilst inside a person. Maybe it completely changes Robert's physiology like he's a member of the Fantastic Four, maybe it only works like how Iron Man's arc reactor works. The choice is yours.

This list will include both regular powers that could be obtained as well as potential changes to physiology. For anyone who's making content for the AU or just likes it, it's up to you to decide what you'd like him to have or not. I'm just the messenger.

With that out of the way: the list.

The Generation, Manipulation, and or Absorption of: Plasma, Energy, Electricity, Fire, Heat, and Ultraviolet

Construct Generation--weapons, shields, etc.--via Cold Plasma

Enhanced physicals as per every powered-up person. Enhanced durability, strength, speed, etc.

Resistance or possibly an immunity to all the powers gained from the pulse. The extent of this resistance is up to you.

UV Radiation Immunity. Possibly a resistance to other radiations too, but nothing too major and just enough to avoid sickness or ARS (Acute Radiation Syndrome).

Re: UV Radiation Immunity: He'd be able to directly stare at the sun. He gains nothing from this but being able to do it.

Magnetic forcefields via Plasmoids, which could attract metal to the shield if wanted

Blinding and burning people via UV Rays (FYM Temporarily?) (Also skin cancer)

Being able to see electromagnetic spectra that are otherwise invisible to us, such as Ultraviolet. (This could help greatly with uncovering mysteries, tracking down certain people, understanding crime scenes, or is instead an awful side effect if it can't be turned off and makes everything look gross)

Could power up or overload technology. It could also be possible for him to control the suit outside of it if he's in close enough range, or maybe charges it up like a phone or something and not a TV remote that needs batteries to work.

Would be able to sense living and nonliving things via electroreception, which helps in cases where he can't see or where whatever he's looking for isn't close by. (Imagine Sonar but instead of screaming to detect things he just became a walking taser instead)

Can absorb external fires and heat, something useful in a fight but even more so in pissing off Flambae, which clearly holds greater importance.

Would also be able to dissipate flames via electricity, or change their shape to minimize them in some way

He could also control the temperature of his fire and make it cold and harmless or hot enough to even vaporize metal

Ozone generation (This could entail with corroding metals, sterilizing surfaces, cleaning wounds, purifying water, or mass poisoning)

Could have some type of conductivity or aura power when first getting the pulse that makes him dangerous to touch until he controls it? The Astral Pulse itself isn't dangerous to touch but that's because it was inside a contained, piloted robot suit.

Plasmoid Explosions. Think Jubilee's powers from X-Men but done in a way aesthetically fitting for a thirty year old man

Could charge the electrons of intangible enemies to make them tangible, or depending on how their powers work heat up the air they become or that surrounds them to force them to change back

Technically brought it up already in the electromagnetic spectra part but also: Infrared/Thermal vision. You could have this dude moving like a Yautja out of the suit.

I did my best to list abilities that seemed plausible for the Astral Pulse, not sure how I did though. If anyone can come up with anything else though don't be afraid to share it.